The Lone Warrior
by Fallen Angel of Epona's moon
Summary: Traumatised by her past, Luna and her carer and her family are heading to Alola to what is supposed to be a new start. Day after arrival, Luna and Krystal are to start their journey, and are joined by our favourite Ash Ketchum and the annoying Hau. However, a certain evil is rising which has terrorised the alternate universes for eons. Au, anime and games mix, including characters.
1. Chapter 1

Alolan Adventures and the Lonely Warrior

**This is how far I've got pairings wise:  
Ash X Lillie?**

**Krystal X Hau?**

**Luna X ?**

**I was going to post this on my original account, but I was worried what my family would think of it. I hide under this false name, and they know nothing,**

**So, as you can see, I haven't decided any pairings yet.  
Also, it is going to have Ash in it, and I've changed the story slightly. He's only done Kalos, Orange Islands and Kanto before coming to Alola. So, those Pokémon are the only ones he has. But, there will be a squeal and pairings won't come until then.**

**Speaking of which! Which would you prefer? The four splitting off and having a story on each of their adventures then having another one where they meet back up? Or just two or three stories covering their travels and them staying together?**

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Beginning of an Adventure**

_Officer Jenny sighed as she put the last of the files from case 'Children Scandal' away. These files contained information on each of the children involved in this terrible scandal, and they now would be locked away to be destroyed._

_Seven children was the number. Seven children had been -mostly likely- scarred for life by Team Rocket. The Seven children were aged between eight and ten, and they had been recruited to help Team Rocket in their plans. Unknown to any of them they were just being used; they all thought Team Rocket were good and honest people._

_However, the one saving grace was most the children were only emotionally scarred from it. But, there was one who had been badly physically injured: Luna, an orphan. Luna was a nine-year-old orphan when it started and happened; when the case was finally closed, they had rounded up the Team Rocket Admin in charge of the scandal and closed down the bases they knew of, she had just turned ten._

_Luna had found out that they were being used big time, which meant she informed the Police of where the Team Rocket base was and then she tried to free all the Pokémon to try and right her wrongs. However, before she could escape and before the Police got there, one of the Team Rocket Admins, Proton, caught her in the act._

_They went on to torture her after that; but it wasn't too long before the Police arrived and she was saved. Jenny shuddered at the thought of what else they could have done to her. The permanent injuries she had were bad enough: but what would have happened if they hadn't got there? Would she have gotten worse ones? Or would she have been killed?_

_Luna had been a right old mess when they got to her. They discovered when she arrived at the Hospital that whatever Team Rocket used on her. With the amount of damage done, she was lucky she hadn't been killed._

_Luna still wasn't great when she was released from hospital, as she was still a little sick from all the surgery, and then there was her mental health. Luna became even more upset and depressed after Officer Jenny had to take the Bulbasaur away from her, as that Pokémon had been stolen from Professor Oak so it needed to be taken in. Luna had understood why it needed to happen, but that didn't mean she wasn't upset about it._

_Because of this, the Orphanage where Luna lived decided to dump her on a sponsor of the orphanage: Rosie Tiki; quite a wealthy woman and a very generous one. Rosie spent a lot of time at the orphanage and had become an aunty of sorts for them. Hopefully, Rosie and her daughter, Krystal, would help Luna heal._

**Present day…**

A young blonde-haired girl awoke to the sound of a Meowth's meow. This blonde-haired girl is Luna; the same Luna who had been used by Team Rocket.

Luna (after opening her eyes) was startled by Meowth's face being centimetres from hers, and she backed away and into the wall on the other side of her bed.

"Gahh! Ouch!" Luna cried as this happened. Then she thought, _'At least I didn't get my face scratched this time.'_

Luna looked out to see it was light outside. Kanto being quite a few hours behind Alola, meant that Luna and the others (Rosie and Krystal) were suffering from jetlag. As Meowth trotted off out of her room to go back to Rosie or wake up Krystal, Luna decided to get dressed.

Luna put on an orange top with pink flowers on it, white shorts, then she slipped on some white sandals. She then sat down in front of her mirror in her room to do her hair. Luna noticed as she brushed her hair, she actually looked generally excited which was rare event.

Luna had quite a boyish face, and when her hair had been cut very short, everyone mistook her for a boy. It had gotten better as she got older, though. And anyway, when it was long or at the very least shoulder length, it was fine; which was the length Luna liked anyway. Luna was quite tall and gangly, too, which annoyed her, even though Rosie assured her she would grow into her body as she got older.

When Luna had put her hair into two plaits, she put on a yellow hat with a pink flower on it. She left her room and proceeded to the stairs. Luna arrived on the bottom floor, she saw Aunt Rosie coming out of her room and stretching as she walked.

Rosie greeted sounding very cheerful, "Gooood mooorrniinngg, LLLuuunnnaa!"  
"Good morning, Aunt Rosie. It looks beautiful out there, doesn't it?" Luna said glancing out the window.

"Yes, it does. I wonder how long Krystal will sleep for?" asked Rosie amusedly.

"I don't know: can I go out for a walk before she gets up?" asked Luna. Luna needed alone time to clear her head.

"Sure! Don't be gone too long! Remember, the professor is going to give you two Pokémon! Then you will get to go on a journey!" said Rosie, sounding excited. She was more excited than Luna, which wouldn

"Yeah, yeah: sounds great," Luna said not sounding like she meant it.

"Luna, what happened in Kanto won't happen again! And you never know, you might get Bulbasaur back," said Rosie gently.

"Maybe," Luna said glumly. "Anyway, I am going to go for that walk now. How long do I have?"  
"An hour and a bit," Rosie answered. Luna nodded, then she went out for her walk.

After walking on a dust trail for a while, Luna eventually reached where the road started. She sighed as she walked along the sidewalk; the water looked so pretty at this time of day! When she reached a seat, Luna sat down and stared out at the ocean.

Even though she didn't realise it, Luna must have started crying because a girl that smelt of herbs came up and asked, "Are you alright?"  
"Oh, huh?" Luna asked, snapping out of her daze. She looked up to see a long green-haired girl looking at her with a pink and white Pokémon next to her.

"You were crying," the girl dead pinned.

"Sorry, just remembering a bad memory," sighed Luna.

"Oh! That's terrible; I'm so sorry! I'm Mallow, by the way," Mallow said, being polite.

"Thanks, but it's fine, really. Luna," Luna offered.

"Nice to meet you! Oh! And this is Steene," said Mallow jesting towards the Pokémon next to her.

"Steene? Is that an Alola native? I'm new here you see; only moved in last night," Luna said.

"Yes, it is! Well, I've got to go. I hope you are enjoying Alola! Alola!" then Mallow was off.

Luna shouted after her, "Bye, Mallow!"  
_'She seems nice," _Luna thought brightly. Then she started making her way back.

However, when Luna reached the end of the road, she could hear a Pokémon crying in pain! Quickly, Luna followed the source of the sound. After pushing through some bushes, Luna saw a Ponyta, the fire horse Pokémon caught in some blackberry and wire. Quickly, Luna rushed forward to start untangling it.

After untangling it and getting several small cuts on her hands, Luna said, "There, all free!"  
But the Pokémon didn't move. Upon closer examination, Luna saw the Ponyta was quite badly injured! She picked it up thinking fast; then ran back to her home, hoping Rosie will know what to do. When Luna got inside, she saw Rosie was unpacking some boxes in the kitchen.

Rosie looked up and when she saw Luna, she said, "There you are! Krystal just left with my nephew to go to Iki Town. You better hur—wait! Is that an injured Pokémon?"

"Yep! Please, what can I do to help it?" asked Luna, looking very distressed.

"On your travels, did you see a building with a red roof?" asked Rosie.

"Yes… I did!" Luna said, thinking fast.

"Right, take the Ponyta there and don't leave until I get there, okay?" said Rosie sternly, but Luna nodded quickly before rushing out the door.

When Luna reached the Pokémon Centre: she charged through the door saying, "Someone, help! This Pokémon is injured!"

A woman in pink came up and said, "Calm down, young girl – it's all right. I'm Nurse joy, and it's my job to look after injured Pokémon. Let me see this Ponyta."  
Luna handed the Ponyta to Nurse Joy. When a flowery Pokémon which Luna believed was called Comfey, and a Chancy with a trolley came to the nurse, Nurse Joy placed the Ponyta down on the trolley, gave the Pokémon some instructions, then the two Pokémon took the Ponyta off.

"Now, what happened?" asked Nurse Joy.

"I have no idea: I heard a Pokémon crying, and when I reached the source of the sound I found the Ponyta," Luna said sounding upset.

"Right. I can guess what happened is that the Ponyta's herd moved on, and it got separated because it was too weak to follow at that point or; wherever or not that was because of injuries it had, or it was just a runt: I do not know. These Pokémon are rare here, but there were one or two herds around this island," said Nurse Joy.

"That's sad! What's going to happen to it?" asked Luna worriedly.

"Well, are you a Trainer?" asked Nurse Joy looking hopeful.

"No, but I'm supposed to be starting my journey today," Luna said sadly.

"Well, I'll deal with the paperwork, get you some Pokéballs, a Pokédex and an Island Challenge Amulet. You just wait out here," said Nurse Joy. Then she went into the staff only area.

"Really? Thanks!" Luna said excitedly. Then she went over to a seat to sit down, while Nurse Joy went to do whatever she was going to do.

Right then a young raven-haired boy with a Pikachu came in. He went up to Nurse Joy and asked her to look over his (two) Pokémon, then he went over to the telephone to make a call. Luna didn't really think anything of it, until ten minutes had passed and he was still on the phone. Luna assumed he was onto his family, which made her wonder he was homesick already. Just then he put the phone down and dialled another number. Finally, after he had been using the phone for an hour, he came over to were Luna was sitting and sat down nearby.

Luna said, -being bored- "Hi."

"Hi. Are your Pokémon getting checked up on too?" he asked after hesitating for a moment.  
"Not exactly; I am about to start my journey. I found this wild Pokémon and Nurse Joy is checking it over; then it will be my starter!" said Luna, feeling more and more excited.

"Ah, okay. Do you mind if I tag along? I have been staying with the professor and going to trainer's school for the last month; but I want to travel, and none of my friends want to, and, travelling is better with others. I'm Ash, by the way," said the raven-haired boy, Ash.

"Nice to meet you, Ash. I'm Luna: and I'm sure that will be fine! Just, I will be travelling with my cousin slash sister, too," Luna said, flushing slightly.

"That would be fine with me. But, what do you mean by sister slash cousin?" asked Ash.

"That's complicated," Luna said, not wanting to go into it.

Ash said laughing slightly, "Okay." He didn't press for any more information.

They talked until Nurse Joy came out with their Pokémon. Nurse Joy gave Luna a Pokéball and said, "Just throw this at Ponyta and she'll be yours."  
"Okay," said Luna nervously taking the ball. Then she turned to Ponyta and said, "What do you say? Come with me?"

"Naaahhh!" said Ponyta cheerfully. Then filled with a sudden burst of confidence, Luna throw the ball at Ponyta. Ponyta was so excited, she almost jumped into the ball. Once she was inside, the ball rocked once, then the red light went off.

"You caught it!" said Ash clapping.

Luna smiled as she picked the ball up, "Yeah, I have."  
"Do you want to give it a name?" asked Nurse Joy.

"Yes! Ivy!" said Luna straight away.

"Okay, Ivy it is," laughed Nurse Joy. Then she said handing Luna a red device, "This, is a Pokédex; this will tell you all sorts of information on Pokémon."  
Luna took it and turned it on, then she ran it over Ivy's ball. It said that Ivy was a Ponyta, a female and a fire type. Then it gave some information on Ponyta, and the Ponyta's weight and height.

"Take these balls too; there are six here which means you are carrying seven in total. But, you can only have up to six Pokémon at one time," said Nurse Joy handing Luna the balls.

"Thanks, Nurse Joy," said Luna taking them gratefully.

"No problem; now just wait here a little longer, and the Kahuna will arrive and give you your amulet," said Nurse Joy.

Luna thanked her once again, then she and Ash walked away from the desk. Luna said, "This is so exciting!" She couldn't believe she had such a change of emotion from earlier when she was dreading it. It was one of those things that ended up better than you were expecting.  
"I know, it is when you start your journey," said Ash nodding. Luna noted Ash wasn't one for being emotional.

Then some people entered. Upon a closer examination, Luna saw that they were Rosie, Krystal along with some other people. Ash questioned, "Mum?" One must have been his mother.  
Rosie, Krystal and the others came up to Ash and Luna. Rosie said, "I see you've met Ash already, Luna."  
"Yep, that's right," said Luna. Then she said, "Nurse Joy gave me some balls, a Pokédex and the Ponyta as my first Pokémon: which I have named Ivy."  
"Well, good for you! This is Professor Kukui," said Rosie gesturing to a man wearing a lab coat with nothing underneath: Luna found this rather disturbing, as did Krystal from some of the looks she was giving him.

"Nice to meet you, Luna," said Professor Kukui.

"And you, Professor," said Luna respectfully.

"This is the Kahuna, Hala," said Rosie, being the introducer.

"Nice to meet you, Mr Kahuna," said Luna bowing her head slightly.

"Please, Hala would be fine," said the Kahuna, Hala.

"This is Hau: Hala's grandson. He's going to be travelling with you and Krystal, and Ash: I assume too," Rosie said.

"That's right!" said Luna. Then she said, "Hi, Hau."  
"Hi again, Hau," greeted Ash.

"And finally, this is Ash's mother, Delia," Rosie finished.

"Hi, Luna," said Delia smiling.

"Hi," greeted Luna shyly.

Then Hala said holding out a pretty amulet, "Take this, Luna; you will need it to do the Island challenge."  
"Thanks, Hala," said Luna, taking it.

Rosie asked, "Before we go anywhere, can I borrow Luna?"  
"Sure," said Professor Kukui.

Luna and Rosie went off away from the others. Professor Kukui said to Ash, Hau and Krystal, "You three, Luna, and I will go up to the Trainer's School to say goodbyes and that. Then, we will go and stay at a Pokémon Centre, and head up to the first trial to arrive at around lunch time tomorrow. But, we might leave sooner depending on the time it is after we finish today."  
"Can't we just go straight to the trial? I have been to Hau'oli City heaps of times!" complained Ash.

"Same. But I could always buy more Malasada's," said Hau thoughtfully.

"True, but Krystal and Luna are very new to the region and haven't been there before," responded Professor Kukui.

Then Rosie and Luna came back: Rosie handed Krystal and Luna some pocket money, then she said, "Alright, your all good to go."  
"Alright then, we better get moving. See you; Delia, Hala and Rosie," said Professor Kukui.

Luna and Krystal said, "Bye!"  
"Have fun!" said Rosie smiling broadly.

"Bye!" said Hau and Ash.

"See you!" said Delia and Hala.

Then, Ash, Krystal, Hau, Luna and Professor Kukui left the Pokémon Centre. As they reached the Trainer's School; Luna said, "I'll meet you guys between here and The Hall of Records: I have things… to attend to up there."  
"Okay, see you soon?" said Professor Kukui, then he Ash, Krystal and Hau went into the Trainer's School while Luna went onwards to the Hall of Records.

The Professor led them into the trainer's school, and they found the headmistress of the school first; she called all the students into the main classroom. There, Professor Kukui told everyone that Ash was leaving school. All of Ash's classmates came and said goodbye. And a few like Lillie; had a very big goodbye to give out.

This took a long time, as Luna who had thought she'd taken a long time, had returned to the meeting place before they had. Luna whispered, "I hope nothing bad has happened."

She kept looking around concernedly hoping to spot them. Then, Hala and a pink haired boy (Luna found it hard to work out his gender) came up. Hala asked, "Luna, what are you doing here?"  
"I was supposed to meet everyone else here: you see, I had somethings to attend to. Anyway, I took a long time; but because I've got back first, so now I'm worried," said Luna sounding worried.

"Where did they go?" asked the pink-haired boy.

"Trainer's school: one of the people I'm travelling with was going to say goodbye, or something," answered Luna.

"Don't sweat it, Luna; goodbyes always take ages at this Trainer's school: they like to give you the proper send off," Hala said chuckling slightly.

"Oh, okay. What are you two up to?" asked Luna.

"A Turos is blocking the road, and Llima is helping me move it. Say, you two haven't met yet, have you? Luna, this is Captain Llima; he is the Captain of your first trial. Llima, this is Luna, a trainer who has just started her journey," said Hala (finally) giving out the introductions.

"Nice to meet you, Llima," Luna said shyly.

"Captain Llima here; nice to meet you, Luna. I look forward to seeing you at your trial," said Llima.

"Thank you," Luna nodded.

Then, Hala spoke again, "Anyway, we better be off. The others shouldn't be too much longer, Luna."  
"Thank you, Hala. And, nice to meet you, Llima," said Luna bowing slightly. Then Hala and Llima went off after Llima had said goodbye.

Luna watched them go until they were out of sight, but then, someone said from behind her, "Hey, there, Luna! Have you been waiting long?"  
Luna turned around to see Professor Kukui, Ash, Hau and Krystal coming up. Luna replied, "Hi. No, I haven't been waiting long; though I was worried when I got here first."  
"Sorry about that; the goodbyes here are very long," said Professor Kukui.

"That's fine; Hala put my worries at ease," Luna nodded. Then she asked, "Shall we go on?"  
"Yeah, let's," said Professor Kukui.

As they walked, Hau asked, "So, you saw my grandpa?"  
"Yep! He and one of the Trial Captains went to go and deal with a Turos, I think," answered Luna as they walked past the Hall of Records.

It was pretty late in the day, so they didn't have much time left; but if someone wanted to go and look at something on the way to the Pokémon Centre, they would stop and do that. They stopped at the Tourist Bureau, Clothes Shop and beach: everyone bought something from the Clothes Shop and Bureau.

After that, they arrived at the Pokémon Centre where they booked some rooms and got some keys for the rooms. They had dinner then went to bed; after having a bit of a chat.

* * *

**I choose here because it seemed the best place to end it. Krystal is based off female character from sun and moon, and Luna is based of the female character from Ultra Sun and Moon.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2; Catch a Pokémon, Hau! Krystal! Luna! Ash! **

**This chapter was planned to be two chapters; all well.**

* * *

The next day, they finished exploring the city and brought several new things: Krystal and Luna had brought new clothes, among other things.

The new clothes included for Krystal: she had gotten a beige shirt with flowers on it, called an "Alolan shirt', as well as some beige socks and shorts. She looked amazing in them. Luna had gotten a pink tee shirt, along with a couple of other things. Neither of the boys brought any clothes, and Krystal teased them a little over it.

When they were finished in town they started towards Veridian Cavern, were the closest trial was supposed to be. It was a pretty straight and easy climb with only a few hills.

As they walked, Professor Kukui said, "This is quite a big area to explore, so it will probably take a couple of days to reach the trial: let's take the time to explore this area properly. Oh yeah! There is also the graveyard to visit too; lots of ghost Pokémon hang out there."  
"Okay, just as long as we don't have to go at night," said Krystal shivering. She didn't like ghosts or ghost stories. Krystal had short honey blonde hair and dark blue eyes. She had a nice body build and was pretty pale compared to most people. Krystal was wearing a beige shirt with flowers on it that reminded Luna of something you might wear to the beach, green shorts, black and red runners, and a red hat that reminded Luna very much of a flower pot.

"On the contrary, Krystal! We have to go at night and day! Different Pokémon show up at different times, you know! But you don't have to come in during our night visit," said Professor Kukui.

"That would be good. Thanks, Professor," Krystal said, relieved.

As they passed a large patch of tall grass, they noticed that a spot was rustling. Professor Kukui said, stopping, "Oh yeah! That is a Pokémon rustling over there; if you enter the grass, it will chase and attack you."  
"Right. That gives me an idea! Luna, let's have a battle. Please," asked Ash.

"But," started Luna nervously. But then Professor Kukui said, "I think Ash is right; a battle would be good for you."

"Go on! I'd jump at the chance if it were me in your shoes," Krystal urged.

"Yeah! I want to see Ivy, wasn't it…? Anyway, I want to see your starter battle!" said Hau jumping up and down.  
"Okay! I'll give it a shot!" Luna said, sounding a bit more confident.

She and Ash stood a reasonable distance apart, with Hau, Krystal and Professor Kukui standing between them, but above where the battlefield would be. Professor Kukui said, "This is a one on one Pokémon battle, the winner will be the standing Pokémon. Go!"  
"Okay. Go, Ivy!" said Luna throwing Ivy's Pokéball. As the ball landed Ivy popped out with a jump of excitement.

"Go, Rowlet!" said Ash, throwing his Rowlet's ball.

Professor Kukui nodded and said, "Good idea, Ash."  
"But Professor, doesn't Rowlet have a disadvantage?" asked Krystal, confused about the events.

"Yes; but Pikachu would be too strong for Luna and Ponyta, so he's giving her a 'handy cap' as their called in Sinnoh," explained Professor Kukui.

Hau nodded and said, "That makes a lot of sense!"

"Luna, you make the first move!" called Ash from his side of the field. Then his pokédex popped out of his pocket!  
"You mean we have known him for almost two days, and he didn't tell us he had a Rotom Dex?!" asked Hau in disbelief. He was a little jealous, honestly.

"Yes; I guess Ash figured you'd find out eventually," Professor Kukui shrugged.

"What is that!?" Luna called to Ash.

"This is my Pokédex; he finds Ivy very interesting. Oh? He's coming over to give you a hand," Said Ash.

"Really that's nice of it," said Luna unsure, finding Ash's Pokédex very weird.

When Ash's Pokédex reached Luna, it said, "Hello, I am Rotom! And I am going to help you with the moves your Pokémon knows zzz!"  
"Really? Thank you, Rotom!" Luna said, looking relieved. That sounded great to not give anything away.

"Right, zzo, This Pokémon zzt, is a Ponyta; and it knowz zzztt, Ember, tackle, growl and zzt, flame charge!" said Rotom.

"Okay, thanks! Ivy! Use growl!" Luna commanded.  
Ivy turned her head to hear Luna's command, then she nodded and growled at Ash's Rowlet, which intimidated Rowlet a bit.

"What exactly does that do?" wondered Luna.

"It low's the target's attack, zzt!" Rotom supplied.

Then Ash commanded Rowlet, "Rowlet! Razor leaf!"  
"Umm, don't let them hit you!" Luna called hoping that was the right thing.

Ivy responded straight away and jumped into the air to avoid the Razor leaf, though she was a little slow. As the next attacks were launched, Professor Kukui said, "Luna's picking it all up, fast."  
"Yes! Luna's going to be a great trainer if she learns this fast," said Hau jumping up and down.

"Now! Use Flame Charge!" Luna called.

"Dodge and Razor Leaf!" Ash called.  
"Use Ember at them!" Luna called. Ivy did as asked, and the embers burnt the leaves and hit Rowlet. Ash then asked for peck, Ivy dodged and used tackle.

Eventually, when the battle had been going for a while, Ash started to look worried. After a minute or two of that, he said, "Let's stop there: both our Pokémon are looking tired."  
"Okay," nodded Luna, then Rotom returned to Ash, and into his bag.

As Ash and Luna went to re-join Professor Kukui, Krystal and Hau, Ash said to Luna, "Well done: you learn fast." battle  
"Thanks!" Luna said. Luna had actually battled before, and she had been quite a good battler, but because of the events it caused, she decided not to tell the others. Luna was relieved Ash had decided to end the battle, she hated seeing her Pokémon in pain, and because wanted to keep up the act of never battling before, she was feeling very nervous.

"Well done, Luna! You're a natural," Professor Kukui said.

"Yes! We will have to battle at some point! For now, Krystal: let us battle!" Hau said, jumping up and down (again).

"Okay; let's go!" said Krystal, excited to battle. Then she and Hau went and stood in the same spots Luna and Ash were standing for their battle.

"Has Hau battled before?" Luna asked Professor Kukui.

"No; but his Grandfather is the Kahuna, and Hau always watched him train and battle so he has a few little tricks up his sleeve. What about Krystal?" Professor Kukui asked.

"She used to go to Trainer Pre-school, and she battled with the school pokemon," Luna answered.

"This will be interesting:" Ash stated.

Then Professor Kukui explained the rules for the battle, then Krystal sent out her Rowlet (Leaf) and Hau sent out his Litten. "Begin!" Professor Kukui called.

Krystal started out by ordering Leaf to use Leafage, but Hau quickly asked Litten to dodge the move -which he did- Then Hau asked Litten to use Ember; Leaf tried to dodge it, but she wasn't quick enough to get out of the way.

After about five to ten minutes Leaf fainted, and Professor Kukui said, "Rowlet is unable to battle: Litten and Hau win!"  
"Wow, that was cool," Hau said excitedly.

"Yeah," Krystal nodded reservedly, a little disappointed by the outcome.

"Good job, everyone," Luna said as she, Ash and Professor Kukui went up to Hau and Krystal.

"Exactly, Luna; now, let me fix up the Pokémon while you guys sort out lunch," said Professor Kukui.

"You don't know how to cook, Professor?" Luna asked, reading between the lines.

"Nope! Always had someone else around to do it!" Professor Kukui said cheerfully. Then the four young Trainer's handed their Pokémon to the Professor, then they set up a mini kitchen and started working out what they were going to cook.

"Right, so, who hasn't cooked?" Krystal asked, taking charge.

Hau was the only one to put a hand up. Luna asked, "Should I put my hand up since the only thing I can cook is toast?"  
"Nah; if nothing else we can have that for lunch," Ash suggested helpfully.

"I think we should make veggie soup," Krystal said, thinking Luna and Hau wouldn't have too much trouble learning how to make it.

"Okay! Let's get to work then!" Ash cried.

And they started. Making veggie soup seemed pretty simple; really the only thing was the time. Krystal did the cooking part, while Ash instructed Hau and Luna on how to cut the veggies: which was very useful with the onions.

When the Professor had finished with the Pokémon, he had fed them. He came over and asked, "How are going?"  
"Pretty good: we're nearly done," Krystal said, after tasting the soup.

A few minutes later she announced it was done, and they dug in. The soup had a delightful aroma and it tasted good too! However, then Krystal looked over to a patch of flowers, and she noticed one was moving!  
"Hey, guys! Quiet and look!" Krystal whispered pointing to the moving red flower. As everyone looked, Krystal pulled out her Pokédex.

The Pokédex said it was called a Flabébé, and it was a fairy type. Krystal asked, "Leaf, ready to battle?"  
"Row!" Leaf hooted in response.  
"Okay then, use leafage on that Flabébé!" Krystal said, and Leaf obeyed.

"Are you going to catch it?" Luna asked, interested.

"Yep!" Krystal said as Leaf's attack hit the flower Pokémon.

The Flabébé cried out in pain as the attack hit; then it looked around, spotting them! It tried to run away, but Krystal had commanded Leaf to use Vine Whip before it could escape. When the Vine whip hit, the Flabébé was looking pretty worse for wear, but still going. It tried to use razor leaf, but Leaf dodged and used Leafage again. Krystal threw a ball at it, and it was caught instantly.

"Yay! I caught my first Pokémon!" cried Krystal, picking up the ball and crying excitedly. Leaf did so, too. Krystal said, "I think I will call this little one Petal."  
"Good idea: nice catch by the way," Professor Kukui said.

"Well done on catching your first Pokémon; it's exciting, isn't it?" asked Ash.

"Oh yeah; I keep forgetting you have travelled before," Luna said smiling.

"That's okay, Luna, I forget too, sometimes. That does remind me, I'll have to show you some of my old Pokémon at some point," Ash said. Then a pained look spread across his face for a second. Luna was about to ask Ash about it, but Hau spoke before she could.

"Hey, Krystal! What else does the Pokédex say about Petal?" Hau asked.

"Well, Petal is female: Flabébes only come in female, and they come in several different colours, too. Petal is quite healthy, too," Krystal said after running the Pokédex over Petal's ball.

"Shall I heal your new Pokémon then we go, yeah?" Professor Kukui asked.

"Sounds good, please," Krystal said.

Once Petal was all healed, they moved on. A short while later, they found another track which went left. Professor Kukui said, "It's daytime now, how about we visit the graveyard?"  
"Sounds good. And that looks like a Hotel over there; we can stay there for the night, and wait there until night comes so we can visit the graveyard again," Hau said.

"Good idea, Hau," Professor Kukui said, then they moved on to the Graveyard. Though Krystal was a little hesitant to go for she didn't like any sorts of Graveyard trips, she hated night ones even more.

As they entered the Graveyard, Krystal could swear the air changed immediately; she thought it changed from a bright, sunny and cheerful day to a gloomy, creepy, and sad day. However, no one else thought they felt this when Krystal brought it up.

Shortly after, Professor Kukui said, "Right, I'll wait here, you move out and find Pokémon to catch! I'll give you all a shout when it's time to go."  
"Right!" said Hau, then he charged off.

"Okay," Krystal, Ash and Luna said, then they went off, too. No one went in the same spot, but in Luna's case, she chooses this for a bit more freedom and she preferred to be alone.

Ash and Pikachu passed a beautiful grave, so he decided to stop by it. "See this, buddy? This poor kid got dragged off by a Drifloon."  
"Drif!" a Pokémon cried.

"Pika, pika!" Pikachu cried, pointing up. Ash looked up to see a Drifloon.

"Cool! Let's catch it! Thunderbolt!" Ash called.

"Pik," Pikachu nodded, releasing the electric attack.

One attack made Drifloon fainted. "Opps, that might have overdone it," Ash said, looking stunned. None the less, he caught the ghost type. He then went on to train with both Pokémon. He didn't train Drifloon as it had fainted.

Luna meanwhile, didn't see any Pokémon she liked, so she just trained with Ivy. Before she heard the Professor call them, she had come back to the start, which meant she must have gone all the way around the graveyard.

When Professor Kukui saw her, he said, "Ah good, one less I have to call. Well, Luna, you wait here and I'll go and find the rest."  
"Okay, Professor," Luna said, then Professor Kukui left to get the others.

About ten minutes later, Professor Kukui came back with Krystal, Ash and Hau behind him. Ash asked, "How did everyone go?"  
"Okay; got some good training in but I didn't see any Pokémon I like," Luna said.

Krystal nodded, "Same."  
"I caught a Gastly! Look!" said Hau excitedly, then he threw a Pokéball and a dark purple round Pokémon came out. It must have been a ghost type, as Krystal hated ghosts and she straight away hid behind Professor Kukui. Hau recalled the encounter to his friends:

_Hau and Litten and been doing a bit of training around the gravestones, careful not to damage any. They had battled a couple of people who were here, during which he vaguely noticed a few of his friends go past._

_Eventually, he and Litten made their way to a tree in the corner and sat down for a rest. Suddenly, Hau felt a cold chill through his body._

_"__Litten, do you have a feeling there is a ghost right behind us?" Hau asked Litten, and Litten nodded, looking scared._

_Very slowly, both turned around to see a ball of purple gas or something, behind them. "Yahh!" Hau cried. He pulled out his Pokédex and discovered it was called Gastly._

_"__Use ember!" Hau said, jumping back and standing up.  
"Meow!" Litten nodded, releasing ember._

_Gastly dodged, then tried to use lick. Litten dodged then Hau asked for scratch, however, the attack went straight through._

_"__Opps! I forgot!" Hau said, remembering normal didn't work against ghost. Then he asked for growl then ember again._

_They exchanged their attacks a couple more times, but Hau managed to make Gastly faint, where he through the Pokéball and caught it. After he returned Litten, it jumped out again._

"Ah, a Gastly. Ghost/Poison I believe," Ash said.  
"Yep! That's right!" Hau said. He returned the Gastly to its ball, then his Litten came out of his ball.

"Litten! Why have you just started doing that?" Hau cried, slightly annoyed.

"What do you mean, Hau?" Professor Kukui asked.

"Just today Litten has decided to come out of his ball without me asking," Hau sighed.

Professor Kukui said putting his hand on Hau's shoulder, "Don't worry about it! that could just be Litten's thing: Just leave Litten. He might stop in a day or so anyway."

"Okay," Hau nodded.

Then Litten came up to Hau and walked across his feet, then he looked up and said, "Meow?"  
"Oh, sorry Litten. Want to return to your ball?" Hau asked pulling out his ball.

Meow!" Litten said, then he was returned to his ball.

"I caught a Drifloon. But I'll wait until this evening because from the looks of it, Krystal doesn't like Ghosts. But Pikachu had a blast. Actually, Rowlet did too," Ash said.

"Rowlet!" Rowlet agreed.

"Pika!" Pikachu agreed also.

"Thank goodness! Thanks, Ash!" Krystal said, coming out of her hiding place.

"Rowl!" Leaf said then she flew into Krystal's head.

"So, it's been a pretty good day for everyone, then! Come on, we need to get our rooms, have dinner, then get back here, again," Professor Kukui said. Everyone nodded, then they went to the Hotel.

Professor Kukui went straight up to the desk and got two keys. This confused everyone, but Professor Kukui told them, "I booked the rooms while you guys were training, because I know this place gets booked out very easily."  
"Oh, that makes sense!" Hau nodded.

Then Professor Kukui said, "Right, Luna and Krystal, you have this key, and Ash and Hau, we will take the other room!"  
Krystal took the key then said, "Right, we're room seven."  
"How about we meet out here for dinner in an hour?" Ash suggested.

"Cool. See you guys then," Krystal said.

Hau, Professor Kukui and Luna nodded, then they went off to their rooms. Because they were only staying for the night, they didn't unpack much. Krystal asked, "Are you alright, Luna?"  
"Yes, I'm fine. Krystal, when we finish Akala Island, I am going to have to go somewhere on my own; I have to know who I am, and Rosie told me of a place to go to find out," said Luna.

"That's fine. for you, it's probably better for you to spend some time on your own, anyway," Krystal said.

"Yes. I do like my solitude," Luna agreed.

"Well, I wish you luck," Krystal said. The boys meanwhile played a game Hau had brought.

Then they had a shower each. Then they got ready for dinner, grabbed the bags, (with the Pokémon in their balls for now) and went out to meet the boys for dinner. As it happened, they arrived at the same time. Professor Kukui asked, "Ready for dinner?"  
"Yep!" Krystal answered, then they headed to dinner.

Luna didn't think much of the dinner, but everyone else seemed to like it, so Luna didn't say anything to not cause a problem. The Pokémon didn't seem too fond of it either: Luna could feel their displeasure about the food. When they finished dinner and paid, they went outside. Professor Kukui asked, "Have your bags and Pokémon, guys?"  
"Yep. We're ready," Ash said nodding, and Pikachu said, "Pika!"  
"Glad to hear it, Pikachu," Luna said smiling. Then she said, "I'm ready."

"Yep! Can't wait!" Hau said jumping up and down.

"Alright! Krystal, see you soon!" Professor Kukui said.

Krystal said nodding, "See you! Have fun!"  
Luna sent out Ivy and hopped on her back, then they, Ash, Hau and Professor Kukui went to the Graveyard while Krystal returned to her hotel room.

When they arrived at the Graveyard, they saw there were a few other trainers around, (with flashlights and Pokémon creating lights) but there were not many.

"Alright! Spread out! We have two hours to waste here," Professor Kukui told Ash, Hau, and Luna. The three nodded, then Hau let Litten out, and He and Litten went one way, Ash and Pikachu went another, and Luna and Ivy went the final way, while Professor Kukui stood in the same spot waiting for them.

Luna didn't have any lights with her. She didn't need them as Ivy's mane was supplying light, it was quite a bright night and there were a few street lamps. It was a very quiet night, which would have alright except for the fact they were in a Graveyard. Litten let Hau's way, and Ash had a light.

"I don't know, Ivy; maybe Krystal is right to be scared of graveyards at night. It is pretty spooky," Luna whispered.

"Nah!" Ivy agreed.

Then there was a bushing rustling nearby. When Luna heard it, she jumped three feet in the air.  
Ivy heard it too, and she looked ready to strike. "Is it a Pokémon, Ivy?"  
"Nah!" Ivy said, throwing her head up and down.

"Alright, use Ember!" Luna said. Ivy nodded, then she shot some Ember at the rustling bush: a dark coloured Pokémon came out.

Luna quickly pulled out her Pokédex and scanned the Pokémon.

_"__Misdreavus, the screech Pokémon."_

"Alright… um, use another Ember!" Luna cried.

Ivy did as asked; most the attack hit the Misdreavus, but quite a lot of the attack missed due to it dodging. Then the Misdreavus used Growl, but Ivy managed to get away from it. Then Luna asked for a Flame Charge. Ivy did that but unfortunately, she missed. The Misdreavus was gloating about this, but while it was gloating, Ivy used another Flame Charge and this hit. Then Luna pulled out a Pokéball and threw it at the Misdreavus who had fallen to the ground. After a couple of rocks, the ball donged and the red light went off.

"Yay! We caught a Misdreavus!" Luna cried jumping with her Pokéball held up to the sky.

"Nah!" Ivy cried jumping too. Then she asked, "Nah?"  
"Huh? What's the matter, Ivy? Oh! A nickname for Misdreavus! Good idea. Hmm, how about… Missy?" Luna suggested.

"Nah!" Ivy said jumping up and down happily.

Luna sent Missy out, then she said, "Missy, welcome to the team! I'm Luna, and this is my other Pokémon, Ivy!"  
"Nah!" Ivy said nuzzling Missy.

"Mis?" Missy asked Ivy confused. Then after a while, She cried happily, "Mis! Misdreavus!"

"Well, I'm glad to see you two get on well!" Luna said smiling. Then Luna pulled out her Pokédex for more information on Missy.

"_Misdreavus, the Screech Pokémon._

_It will use any means necessary to frighten people and absorb their life energy. It practices constantly to hone its skill in causing fear."_

Just then, Missy tried to scare them, but Ivy and Luna laughed because it was cuter than anything else: certainly not scary.

Then they went back to training. By this stage an hour had gone past, so they only had an hour left. When that final hour was almost up, Luna hopped on Ivy again, and they and Missy went back to the Professor. When they got back, Hau had already returned. He had his Gastly and Litten out and was looking very happy. Ash was training with his three Pokémon, and he battled a few trainers who weren't screaming as soon as something moved.

"Hi, Luna!" Hau called.

"You caught a Pokémon-cool!" Professor Kukui said.

"Yep, this is Missy," Luna said getting off Ivy.

"Well done! That's two for all of us, now! Well actually Ash has three; but a minor detail," Hau said.

"Yes, exactly," Professor Kukui said.

Then Ash came back. "Last back is me."  
"At least this time the Professor didn't come and get us," Hau said excitedly.

"True," Ash nodded.

Professor Kukui laughed. Then he asked, "How are we all? How did it go?"  
"Good! Got some good training done; hopefully, we will pass that trial," Luna said nervously.

"My Pokémon and I had a blast! And I got more training done!" Hau said jumping up and down.

"Yes, same as those two," Ash said with his Pokémon agreeing.  
"Well then, let's call it a day!" Professor Kukui said. The three others nodded, and they headed back to the hotel.

When they arrived at the Hotel, Luna, Ash and Hau returned their Pokémon to their balls, then they said goodnight and went to their rooms. When Luna entered hers and Krystal's room- she saw Krystal giving her Pokémon a brush.

"How did it go?" Krystal asked.

"Good! I caught a Misdreavus: she's called Missy!" Luna said.  
"Ah, great. Hopefully, I can get other my fear of ghosts, though," Krystal said sadly.

"Don't worry, you will! And, we will all help you," Luna said patting Krystal on the back.

"Hopefully. Bed?"  
"Yeah."

The two girls tended to their Pokémon, (while Missy was out, Krystal was in the bathroom) then they prepared for bed. Luna didn't know about Krystal, but as soon as her head hit the pillow, Luna was fast asleep.

* * *

**I'm going to tell you this is a long story. As we get more Pokémon, I will supply a list of their Pokémon, and maybe moves as well. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Verdant Cavern! The Home of Llima's Trial and lots of Yungoos! Part 1**

**The next instalment is here. Sorry, but life and other stories get in the way. Here is the pokemon list:  
**

**Ash's Pokémon:  
Rowlet**

**Pikachu:**

**Drifloon:**

**Hau's Pokémon :  
Litten**

**Ghastly**

**Krystal's Pokémon:  
Leaf (Rowlet)**

**Petal ****Flabébé****)**

**Rowan (Growlithe)**

**Luna's Pokémon:  
Ivy (Ponyta)**

**Missy (Misdreavus)**

**I am removing the moves because I copied this off an earlier chapter and I couldn't be bothered working out what they would have known. It will come back later on though. Also, do you want the sequel with the continue to be together, or split? Don't forget, Ash's journey is AU, because he has only gone to some regions.**

**I have changed my mind about pairings, and I am going to do a poll, okay? I am going to have the ability for two choices, one for Ash and one for Luna. I am happy with keeping Hau and Krystal together :) **

The next morning, Luna and Krystal both slept in, having had a late night. When Luna woke up, she was feeling a little confused. She had had a dream where a woman was singing to her, then it morphed into her being carried in a pelipper's beak, which in typical dream fashion then turned into something random: her and Ash watching Hau and Krystal dance as if they were drunk. Luna hoped that didn't happen any time soon.

Luna than thought about the song: the woman, whoever she was, wasn't singing any song, it was a song in an unknown language, or one unknown to Luna. Luna had no idea who the woman was, but she assumed it was her mother, or a babysitter, or something along those lines. She would like to know though.

"Luna, are you alright? You have been staring at the mirror for a while now. There is nothing wrong with how you look if that's what your thinking," Krystal said, coming up behind her.

Luna jumped: she had no idea Krystal was up! Luna shook herself, then said, "Just thinking about a dream I had, that's all." Luna noticed Krystal was still in her nightclothes while Luna was fully dressed. Luna almost laughed at herself at being so much in thought she didn't hear her friend slash cousin get up.

"Oh? What happened in it?" Krystal asked, curious.

"You know how I sometimes start talking in a foreign language and have no idea what I am saying?" Krystal nodded. "Well, I had a dream where a woman was singing to me in that language."

"Really? That's weird. Maybe, your dreams are trying to tell you something?" Krystal suggested.

"Maybe, but what?" Luna asked feeling very confused.

"Who knows? When you go to find out who you are, maybe you can find out about your dreams, too: maybe they're the key to finding out about yourself? Anyway, ready to get up and continue to Verdant Cavern?" Krystal asked.

"Yes, let's go," Luna nodded. She was ready to leave but not so ready for the trial they were going to.

The room they were in had a small balcony, and the room was quite long and skinny. There were two single beds, a small area for Pokémon to sleep, a shared bedside table, a small kitchenette and a few wardrobes and cupboards. Apart from the door out, there was only one other noteworthy thing, which was the bathroom which was very small and cramped.

They grabbed their stuff, and returned their Pokémon to their balls, they glanced over the room one more time then left, hoping they might run into the others.

Professor Kukui, Ash, and Hau had just left their room as the girls came out. They were in the room opposite. Hau said, "Perfect timing, eh?" It was quite unbelievable they had gotten ready and come out at basically the same time.

"Seems that way," Krystal nodded. She, like Luna and Ash were finding this incredible. Hau and the Professor didn't really think about it.

"Shall we continue onward, kids?" Professor Kukui suggested.

"Yep! But first, breakfast!" Ash said, sounding full of energy. He was almost bouncing off the walls.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu said to agree with Ash.

They went into the restaurant part of the hotel and got their breakfast. As they ate, Luna asked Ash, "Remind me again: you have finished this Island, right?"

"Yep! Right! You're a good guesser or reader of what people say though, Luna. I didn't actually directly tell you that," Ash said.

"Oh. Have to have something going for me," Luna said shrugging.

"You have plenty going for you, Luna!" Krystal argued.

"Yes, Krystal's right; you do have plenty going for you," Professor Kukui said.

"Really you guys think so?" Luna asked with a shy, but hopeful smile.

"Yes! We think so!" Hau said cheerfully.

"Yep! You just lack confidence and self-esteem, Luna. But, those things will come, I'm sure," Ash said. He was going through/had gone through a bit of that himself.

"Wow, thanks!" Luna said smiling.

When they finished breakfast, they hit the road again. As they passed what looked like a farm of sorts, Professor Kukui stopped and asked, "Wanna go visit the Berry farm? It's pretty small, and there isn't a lot to see, so we won't be there for too long."

"Okay! Sounds fun!" Hau said, jumping up and down: none of them knew how he had so much energy.

"Sure, why not?" Krystal nodded.

"Last time I went to the berry farm it was great!" Ash cried.

Then a red and white bird Pokémon came out of the farm. When it saw them it came running up to them squeaking, "Deli! Delibird!"

"Huh?" Luna said turning around with the others. Then she realised this Pokémon was upset about something!

"Hey there, Delibird, what's the rush?" Professor Kukui asked, but then the pokémon, Delibird, grabbed his coat and pulled.

"Now, now, no time for that," Professor Kukui said, trying to get the Delibird off his coat.

Curious about this new Pokémon, Krystal pulled her Pokédex out! She thought she had seen the creature once before in the Kanto region.

_Delibird, the Delivery Pokémon._

_Type is ice/flying. Although it naturally prefers cooler locales, Delibird in Alola seem able to withstand the heat to a certain extent._

"Hey, Krystal! Pokédexes don't normally give information before you catch Pokémon?" Hau asked.

"Oh! That one did belong to someone else, Mohn Esterlin. I must have not wiped its memory properly when I got it back. Most pokédexes I have these days are well looked after second-hand ones," Professor Kukui said, still trying to deal with the delibird who was still trying to pull him off somewhere.

"it's alright, Professor: I don't mind. I quite like it in fact," Krystal said, giggling as the Delibird tried to drag the Professor off.

"I think we should follow it!" Luna said determinedly. She had been watching it, and something was wrong, she could tell. Ash was coming to a similar realisation.

"I agree with Luna. It looks like it wants to show us something," Ash said, nodding. Luna beamed.

"Deli! Delibird!" Delibird agreed.

"Yezz! That is what Delibird says, zzt! Trouble at the berry farm. Let's hurry! I want to make sure my berry supply is okay!" the Rotom dex said, appearing.

"Seriously, Rotom? Your berries are the only thing you care about? And you could have come to help us work out what was wrong earlier," Krystal exclaimed, then she scolded it a little.

"Pikacha!" Pikachu said agreeing with Krystal. Then he rolled his eyes at Rotom.

"Alright. Delibird, lead the way!" Professor Kukui said, and the Delibird nodded, then led them inside the berry farm.

As they followed Delibird, the trainers looked around: the berry farm was a lovely place! There were berry trees with berries on them, and there were some with flowers on them. Among the ones with flowers, there were heaps of butterfree and beautifly! Or at least, that's what Ash said they were. Luna and Krystal remembered seeing butterfree in the Kanto region when they lived there.

When they reached an area with a mulch machine, wheelbarrows, shovels and a tree with berries underneath. They saw two people who looked like a cross between delinquents and punks, talking to an older man who had two Delibird behind him.

"They're from Team Skull! They must be grunts," Ash said, pointing at the punks cross delinquents.

"Now you mention it, they do look like them! They are them!" Professor Kukui stated. He knew what they looked like, but sometimes these things slipped your mind.

"Who and what is 'Team Skull/?'" asked Krystal.

"Are they similar to Team Rocket?" Luna asked.

"Yep! They are similar to Team Rocket but very different at the same time," Ash explained.

"Butzz, what are they doing here?" Rotom asked.

"Getting berries, what else?" Hau said cheerfully.

"More like stealing berries," Ash said dryly.

"Come on! That guy looks like he needs a hand!" Krystal cried, pointing to the older man.

"Yeah," Hau said, and they headed over to the Skull grunts.

As they approached, one of the grunts was saying, "Hand over those berries, yo! We're hungry!"

"Yeah, yo! We wanna nab us some berries," the other grunt said.

"I'm sorry, but my berries are only for Pokémon," the berry man said, frowning at them.

"Oh? Do you think I am lower than a Pokémon, then? Come on! I already have Self-esteem issues!" The first grunt said, clearly upset.

"Ohh dear," Krystal moaned. The two grunts spoke in a way she hated: it was hard to keep track of.

"Hey, Professor! What are you doing here?" the berry man asked, ignoring the grunts temporarily.

The two Skull grunts jumped and turned around in surprise. The second one said, "Hey, it's the kid with the Pikachu again!"

"Yeah, and he's replaced his friends," the second one said.

"Professor! It's nice to see you, but you should probably leave. Don't worry about me, I can handle these Numskulls," The berry man said.

"Even if they're outlaws, it's not nice to call them Numskulls," Luna said quietly.

"True, but you do get mighty sick of them after a while," the berry man said.

"Wait a minute! They're not going anywhere, right, homie?" the first grunt said.

"Nope! They're not going anywhere!" The second one said.

"Luna, what do you say we battle them?" Krystal asked.

"Okay, let's do it!" Luna said, nodding. She suddenly felt very confident.

"You want a battle, eh? Well, bring it on!" The two grunts said. Then they sent out their Pokémon, a black (Alolan) rattata and a zubat (according to Luna and Krystal's pokédexes).

Luna and Krystal sent out Ivy and Petal (Krystal's Flabebé,) and the battle began. Krystal whispered to Luna, "You take care of the bat. I'll take the rat!"

"Okay," Luna nodded, agreeing.

"Zubat! Use Poison Sting on the flower!" One grunt called.

"Zu!" Zubat cried, then it sent a Poison Sting at Petal.

"Ivy! Quick! Flame Charge!" Luna called.

At the same time, Krystal was saying, "Petal! Get out of the way!"

"Flea!" responded Petal.

"Mah!" Ivy said as she started charging at the Zubat.

Petal managed to get out of the way of the Poison Sting, and Ivy's Flame Charge hit the target. "ZUBAAA!" The Zubat loudly cried, obviously in pain, which caused everyone to flinch.

"Rattata! Use bite on the Ponyta, now!" the Rattata grunt called.

"Ivy! Get out of the way!" Luna cried while Krystal ordered Petal, "Fairy wind, quickly!"

Before Ivy could get out of the way, the Rattata had used bite and hit her leg, and had a good hold. Petal's fairy wind didn't go too well, either. It did hit the rattata, and the rattata let go of Ivy, but because of that, Ivy took the brunt of the attack as she was not able to get out of the way. Ivy's HP was lowered quite a bit.

"This isn't going too well," Ash said, looking worried.

"Do you think they will need a hand?" Hau asked. For the first time in a while, Hau had an expression on his face which was not excitement or cheerfulness.

"No, we can't. Even if the team skull grunts are rebels, bordering on bad guys, it would be against normal battle rules if we did intervene," Professor Kukui said, shaking his head sadly.

"We just have to hope they pick it back up and win," Ash said. He was getting a little stressed about the outcome of the battle, but trying not to show it.

"Ivy! Are you alright?" Luna called to Ivy. She was feeling so terrible. If only she had paid more attention to the battle and not on how she was going to look like a beginner battler, she might have been able to get Ivy to avoid that attack.

"Nah!" Ivy called, sounding strong.

"Okay! Jump high, Ivy!" Luna said quickly forming a plan in her mind. Then she said to Krystal, "Krystal, quick! Get Petal to use fairy wind all over the battlefield! But, just make sure it doesn't go as high as Ivy is."

"Okay! Petal, Fairy Wind on the triple!" Krystal called as Ivy did a massive leap into the sky.

"Fleur! Fea!" Petal cried as she used a fairy wind attack.

The fairy wind covered the whole battlefield which meant neither Zubat or Rattata could avoid the attack. Because of the Fairy Wind earlier, and them both being super effective, rattata fainted!

"Ugh! Rattata!" cried it's a grunt in frustration, and he did a few things which were flamboyant. Then he returned rattata to its Pokéball.

Then, Ivy came down on Zubat. Zubat had been weakened from previous attacks, so it fainted. It's trainer's reaction was identical to the other ones.

"What was that Ivy used on that Zubat!? It was cool!" Hau cried.

"Zrt! It was a move; but that pokémon didn't know a move like that before, zrr!" Rotom supplied.

"Ivy must have just learnt it then," Ash nodded.

"Yes, probably. That move was Bounce, and a pretty sweet one too!" Professor Kukui stated.

"What! Seriously? We were beaten by the Pikachu kid's replacement friends?" grunt A exclaimed.

"This is so low! Come on, let's get out of here before we get our skull's whacked even more!" grunt B said.

"Yeah! Let's go and mess with Llima at Verdant Cavern!" grunt A cried. Then they ran off at a surprising and alarming speed.

"That didn't sound good," Krystal said when they were gone.

"No, it didn't," Luna agreed wholeheartedly. Then she ran over to Ivy.

Krystal went over to Petal while the berry man, Professor Kukui, Ash and Hau, came to them as they thanked and patted their partners. They wondered what the berry man's name was. "Well done! Ivy learnt Bounce! It's pretty cool when your Pokémon learns a new move!" Professor Kukui exclaimed.

"Yes, it is," agreed Luna.

"Hold on, let me see to them," Professor Kukui offered quickly.

"Thanks Professor!" Krystal said.

"Yeah, thanks," Luna nodded. They handed the Professor their balls and got to healing them.

"I want to thank you, kids, for helping me out. You two girls did well against them, since from the sounds of it your new trainers," The berry man said giving them a warm smile.

"That's right!" Krystal exclaimed while Luna merely nodded.

Then the berry man said, jesting towards the pile of berries beneath the tree, "Feel free to help yourself to these. Unfortunately, that is the best I can give you at the moment. Now, I have to clean up after those two troublemakers."

"That's fine! We better hit the road again, anyway," Professor Kukui said.

"Yeah, gotta keep moving!" Hau said excitedly.

Luna facepalmed as she said, "Are you never not excited or happy?"

"Nope! Not always!" Hau said grinning broadly.

"Thank you, Mr berry man," Ash said.

"Yes, thank you," Luna said, agreeing.

"Same: thanks," Krystal and Hau both nodded.

"No problem, glad I can give you something. Well, I better get started: good luck for your Island Challenge!" the berry man called.

"Thanks, friend! Come on, guys, we better get a move on!" Professor Kukui said, then the four children quickly gathered up some berries. The Professor handed the girls their pokeballs back.

When they had done that, they said goodbye to the berry man and continued on. As they continued to Verdant Cavern, a red with black stripes dog-like Pokémon appeared out of the bushes and started barking aggressively at them. It was cute rather than aggressive though.

At the sight of this Pokémon, four Pokédexes appeared, (by themselves and pulled out) and read off that this Pokémon was called Growlithe, and it was a fire type.

"Oh yeah, I remember them! A Kanto native," Ash said.

"Do you mind if I try and catch it? it's just, I have always wanted one," Krystal asked.

"Sure, go ahead, Krys," Luna said quietly with a small smile.

"Yeah, sure! Even if I did want one, I'm sure there are more out there!" Hau said putting his hands behind his head and smiling with his eyes closed.

"Go ahead, you saw it first," Ash said nodding.

"Alright: Petal! Go!" Krystal said, sending Petal out.

"Fla!" Petal cried as she was released from her ball.

"Alright! Use Fairy Wind to daze it!" Krystal asked.

"Flea!" Petal cried, and she sent a full-strength fairy wind at the Growlithe.

"Zzt! I'm glad that's not coming at me," Rotom said floating next to Ash's head, making him jump.

"Rotom! Would you please let me know you're there!" Ash cried. Then he gave a small huff.

Pikachu grinned evilly at Rotom, then when Rotom returned to watching the battle as Krystal asked for a tackle attack, Pikachu gently whacked Rotom on the back of the head with his tail.

"Hey! Pikachu!" Rotom cried.

"Pika! Pikachu!" Pikachu laughed.

"Oh? That was revenge for giving Ash a fright, zzt? Okay, I'll let this one pass," Rotom said, understanding.

"I think, Rotom, you should return to Ash's bag before anything else happens," Luna suggested.

"Good idea, Luna, zzzt!" Rotom agreed, then he returned to the bag as Petal was hit with an Ember, which was a critical hit.

"Come on, Petal! You can do it!" Hau urged, jumping up and down with a stupid grin on his face.

"Yes, Hau's right, Petal! Try another Tackle! And keep tackling until you hit," Krystal ordered, and Petal nodded as she did so.

Nearly five minutes later, Petal hit the Growlithe with a strong Tackle, which was enough to stun it, so Krystal threw a ball at it. After nearly catching it twice, (but without the Growlithe leaving the ball) Growlithe was finally caught.

Krystal breathed a sigh of relief as she went over to the ball. Then she cried, with Petal crying something happy at the same time, "Yay! I caught a Growlithe! This one will be called Rowan."

"Well done!" Luna said placed her hands together in prayer position.

"Yes! Some pretty sweet moves went on there," Professor Kukui exclaimed.

"Good for you, Krystal," Ash said smiling.

"Shall we move on? The Pokémon Centre near Verdant Cavern can't be too far away," Professor Kukui suggested.

"Yeah, lets," Ash agreed.

"Yeah! I can't wait to do my first trial!" Hau said enthusiastically.

"I can: it sounds scary," said Luna quietly.

"Don't worry, Luna," Professor Kukui started as he placed his hand on Luna's shoulder, causing her to tighten up. "It's not as scary as it sounds. From the way we've seen you battle, you'll be fine."

"Yes, the Professor's right, Luna: you'll be fine!" Krystal said grinning.

"Maybe you're right: but that thing when we were battling Team Skull was just some determination from the fact I disliked how much trouble they caused," Luna said smiling a little.

Krystal gave Luna knowing look, but she didn't say anything. As they continued on, a Rising Star Male came up to Ash and said, "Hey you! You were one of those people who stopped Team Flare, weren't you?"

"Yes, I was," said Ash (sounding like he wished he wasn't,) to the surprise of Hau, Krystal, Luna, and Professor Kukui.

"Thought so. Let's battle!" The Rising Star said with triumph.

"Sure. I'm Ash! How does a three on three sound?" Ash asked, knowing he wasn't going to get out of it.

"Sounds good! I'm Nathen!" Nathen said.

"Alright, I'll referee," Professor Kukui said, stepping forward as Luna, Hau and Krystal moved to where the sidelines would be.

"Thanks, Professor!" Nathen and Ash chorused at the same time.

"Alright! This is a three on three Pokémon battle: the battle will be over when all three Pokémon on either side are unable to battle. Ready?" Professor Kukui asked.

"Drifloon! GO!" Ash cried throwing Drifloon's pokéball.

"Floon!" Drifloon cried as it came out. At the sight of it, Krystal quickly ducked behind Luna.

"Alright! Growlithe! Show this punk who's boss!" Nathen cried, throwing a Pokéball which revealed a growlithe.

"Begin," Professor Kukui responded, and drifloon and growlithe sprang into battle.

After a while of going head to head, Luna said, "Wow, Ash and… Nathen, wasn't it? Anyway, they are really asking their Pokémon to give it their all."

"Yeah, and they aren't even the strongest ones," Krystal nodded.

"This is getting really heated, isn't it?" Hau asked, jumping up and down doing something weird with his arms.

"Yeah! And their moves get better by the minute, too!" Professor Kukui said nodding.

Just then, Drifloon landed an Astonish which made Growlithe faint. Nathen quickly returned growlithe to its Pokéball. Then he sent out a Houndour, and the battle started once again.

Because of her previous battle, and the houndour knew moves which are super effective against ghosts, Drifloon didn't last long against Houndour. Ash was happy with how his ghost-type did, though.

"Well done, Drifloon; have a good rest. Rowlet! Come out!" Ash called, throwing Rowlet's pokéball.

"Roa!" cried Rowlet as he came out of his ball.

Rowlet tried his best, but due to the massive type disadvantage, he only managed to knock out Houndour at the same time he fainted. Ash thought this was a bit unfortunate, but quite lucky, too.

"Alright! Whoever wins this last battle will be the winner! Good luck!" Professor Kukui called.

"Pikachu? Ready?" Ash asked, turning to Pikachu.

"Pika!" Pikachu cried, springing onto the battlefield. As a passing Backpacker walked by, she decided to stop and watch.

"Litten! Go!" Nathen called, sounding a little unsure.

As Pikachu and Litten charged into battle, Luna said to Krystal and Hau, "You know, I think Nathen was a bit full of his own importance and big for his boots at the start. Now, Ash has put him back in his boots."

"That wouldn't surprise me; Rising Stars are notorious for that," Krystal remarked.

"Ash better explain about stopping Team Flare, though! It sounds really interesting, and he hasn't told us one thing about it!" Hau cried.

"Yeah! He hasn't mentioned it! When we reach that Pokémon Centre just up here, Ash will sit down and won't move until he has told us all about it," Krystal agreed.

A little later, Pikachu landed a Thunderbolt, which caused Nathen's Litten to faint. "The Battle is over! Ash wins." Professor Kukui declared.

"Thank you, Professor," Ash said nodding respectfully.

"Well done!" said the Backpacker, who then continued on her way.

"Zrrt! Good job, Pal!" Rotom said appearing, then disappearing.

"Well done, Ash: your really something else. But, thank you. You have made me realise I still have a long way to go! When we finished our Island challenge, will you battle me again?" Nathen asked, holding his Litten.

"Sure. Since the Pokémon Centre isn't too far away; how about you come with us there?" Ash asked as Pikachu jumped on his shoulder.

"Sure: my sister is waiting for me there too," Nathen nodded, then he, Ash, Luna, Krystal, Hau and Professor Kukui went onward to the Pokémon centre.

When they arrived, they went in and gave all their Pokémon to Nurse Joy, who was going to look them over.

"It was nice meeting you all, but I better go over to my sister over there before she goes onward without me! If we meet again, you will have to battle her!" Nathen said. Being still on the road, his pokémon were just healed, which took a few seconds, rather than being given a proper examination. Then he ran over to a lass who was just near the door.

"Yes, it was nice. See you, Nathen!" Ash said: he shook hands before the boy had ran off.

"Bye!" The others cried, then Nathen and his sister went outside. Before Krystal, Luna, the professor or Hau could even move, Ash made a Beeline for the phone.

Almost an hour later, Ash got off the phone finally. Hau and Krystal grabbed Ash and pulled him over to a table and chairs with Luna and Professor Kukui following, perplexed.

"You two, sit! Ash, tell us everything to do with this 'stopping Team Flare' business," Krystal ordered.

"Alright, only if someone orders food though," Ash said begrudgingly as he sat down.

"Come on, Professor: since we're up, we can do it," Luna said, and Professor Kukui nodded, so they went to order some food.

When they came back and had sat down, Rotom appeared and said, "Zrrt! Come on, Ash! No more excuses zzz!"

"Alright, I'll tell you all about what Nathen was meaning. So…" Ash said, then he jumped into a rapid explanation about his adventures in Kalos, the people he met, the adventures he had, and then finally all about Team Flare. During this time, their food came, but that didn't stop Ash from talking: he was on a mission, so he ate and talked.

When Ash finished, their food was finished too. Krystal cried, "Wow! That, that's amazing!"

"Yeah! I would have liked to have been there!" Hau said grinning (as usual).

"Thanks for sharing that, Ash," Luna said softly.

"Yeah! Thanks!" Professor Kukui said.

"Zrrt! That's a pretty sweet adventure, Pal!" Rotom said.

"Yes, I agree with Rotom," someone said, they all turned around to see that someone was Llima.

"Ah, Llima! How are you?" Professor Kukui asked.

"Fine thanks, Professor," Llima said smiling.

"Thanks, Llima," Ash said.

"So, are you guys coming to do your first trial?" Llima asked Luna, Krystal and Hau.

"Yep! That's right!" Hau said, (still) grinning.

"Yes, we are," Luna answered.

"Yes! Can't wait!" Krystal cried.

"Hey, Ash, Llima: after Luna, Hau and Krystal have done their trial here, how about you have a battle?" Professor Kukui asked.

"Yes! That would be interesting!" Krystal said.

"Oh, yes; that would be cool!" Luna nodded, but sounding as though she was daring herself to say it.

"Okay, why not?" Ash nodded.

"Yes, good idea, Professor. So, you'll all come tomorrow?" Llima asked.

"Yes, I will bring them all tomorrow," Professor Kukui nodded.

"Alright, see you then!" Llima said, then they said goodbye, and he left.

"Zzz! I really like that Llima character!" Rotom said.

"Yes, he is a nice kid," Professor Kukui said. Then he continued, "He used to dress like a girl and try to look like one because his parents had wanted a daughter during his school years. Several of us, myself included, have been working to make him accept and be happy with himself. You can still see some of that lingering, though."

"That's sad," Luna said, feeling sympathetic.

"Sure is," Ash nodded, agreeing with Luna.

"Ash, Hau, Luna, Krystal, professor: here are your Pokémon," Nurse Joy said, bring a trolley with their Pokéballs and Pikachu over.

As soon as Pikachu saw Ash, he jumped off and ran over to him. "Hey, Buddy! And thanks, Nurse Joy!" Ash said, giving Pikachu a hug.

"Thank you, Nurse Joy," said Luna getting up and collecting Missy and Ivy's Pokéballs.

"Yes, thanks," Krystal said doing the same for Rowan, Leaf and Petal.

"Yes! Thanks a million!" Hau said collecting Litten and Ghastly's.

"Thank you, Nurse Joy," said Professor Kukui collecting his and Ash's Pokeballs.

"No problem!" Nurse Joy said, then she went off.

As Professor Kukui handed Ash his Pokémon, Ash said, "Thank you, Professor."

"So, Professor Kukui! What Pokémon do you have?" Hau asked.

"How about we battle, and I show you?" suggested Professor Kukui.

"Errr, okay," Hau said, looking taken aback.

They went out to one of the Pokémon Centre's battlefields, and Hau and Professor Kukui stood at opposite ends while Ash, Luna and Krystal stood on the edge of the field in the middle.

"Does two on two sound okay to you, Hau?" Professor Kukui called.

"Well, that is all the Pokémon I have!" Hau called back.

Ash called to them, "Ready?"

"Yep!" they both called.

"Begin!" Ash cried.

Then Rotom appeared out of Ash's back. "You want to watch, do you, Rotom?" Ash asked.

"ZZep'!" Rotom replied.

Hau went to send out one Pokémon, but Litten popped out instead. "Oh, alright, Litten!" Hau said smiling.

Professor Kukui sent out a Rockruff, which was very cute. Ash said, "it's official, I am so going to catch one of those!"

"Thought you might say that," Krystal commented.

As they watched Litten and Rockruff battle, Ash, Luna and Krystal all noticed one thing, Litten had a lot of fire, and he would never back down, which is why he beat Rockruff.

Professor Kukui sent out Papplio then. Despite all its fire and determination, Litten still fell to Papplio's water attacks. Hau sent Gastly out then. However, due to Gastly been a new Pokémon for Hau and he hadn't really done any training with it, it fell to Papplio, too.

"Wow! Good job!" Luna said.

"Yes, good job, Hau. I would suggest doing some training with Gastly, particularly this afternoon though, just so that you all are a bit stronger for your trial. I think you should all do that, actually," Professor Kukui said.

"Me included?" Ash asked.

"Yep, even you. How about you three start training while Hau and I get out Pokémon fixed up?" Professor Kukui asked.

"Sounds good!" Krystal agreed. So, Hau and Professor Kukui went back into the Pokémon Centre, while Krystal, Luna and Ash sent their Pokémon out for training.

They practice their moves, battle strategies, and combo moves, too. About then Hau and Professor Kukui came out, and Hau joined their training with the Professor watching on.

At the end of the day as the sun began to set, Professor Kukui said, "You are all looking good! I think you will do fine in your trial."

"Thank you, Professor, Professor Kukui!" Luna said whilst looking relieved.

"Rowlet!" Ash's Rowlet cried, then something about him changed ever so slightly.

"Ash, I think your Rowlet is going to evolve soon," Krystal said.

"Your right, Krystal! But, when Nurse Joy takes your Pokémon for a check-up this evening, I would ask, Ash," Professor Kukui said.

"Really? That's exciting!" Ash exclaimed.

"Yes, very, Ash," Luna said with a big smile.

"Wow! Do you think he will evolve in your battle with Llima, tomorrow?" Hau asked Ash.

"Maybe," Ash said. Then, his stomach growled.

"I think we should head in now. We should have an early night, anyway," Professor Kukui suggested. The others nodded, and they went in.

They gave their Pokémon to Nurse Joy to be healed and for her to give Rowlet a check-up, then they got rooms and went to put their stuff in them. When they came back down, Nurse Joy called them over. She handing them their Pokéballs and Pikachu. "All your Pokémon are in good form for your trial tomorrow. Good luck! And Ash, your Rowlet is very close to evolving."

"Thanks, Nurse Joy," Luna said taking Ivy and Missy's balls.

"Yes, thanks! Ash, that is exciting!" Krystal said enthusiastically.

"I'll say. Thanks, Nurse Joy!" Hau said taking his Pokémon at the same time as Ash and Krystal.

Professor Kukui took his Pokéballs, and he and Ash said at the same time, "Thank you, Nurse Joy."

"No problem: always a pleasure," Nurse Joy said smiling broadly.

Then they went to get dinner. Being on a journey, the food for them and the Pokémon was always provided for free at Pokémon Centres. Krystal was a bit scared of eating with the three ghosts nearby, but she slowly got used to it.

All of their Pokémon were starving hungry; Luna and Krystal had to go and get seconds for them all. But Professor Kukui said, when Ash was disbelieving about how fast they had eaten, "They did work hard, Ash; so it isn't surprising."

"Yeah! I'm that hungry and I haven't done as much as them," said Hau with a face full of food.

Krystal and Luna had come back by that point, and Luna said, "Hau! That is rude to speak with your mouth full!"

"Luna, give it a rest," said Hau not with his mouth full.

"Sorry, Hau, she's right," Ash said as Luna and Krystal bent down to give the Pokémon their seconds.

"Ugh! No one's on my side today," complained Hau. Ash found it interesting Krystal didn't comment.

After the humans and pokémon had eaten their fill, they sat around talking for about half an hour, then they retired to their rooms, where Luna, Krystal and their Pokémon talked for another half hour whilst the TV played. The boys watched an episode of the Pokémon Ranger Show on television at the moment.

Luna struggled to sleep that night, so she got up and crept out to the balcony they had in their room. Luna looked up at the sky and sighed; something about the sky reminded her of the times when she star gazed with her Bulbasaur. Then she wondered how he was doing. Was he being treated well? Luna hoped so.

Then Ivy, Petal, and Missy joined her, stargazing at the constellation called Orion. Luna was surprised Krystal's pokémon had come out too.

"Can't sleep either, guys?" Luna asked softly.

"Nah!"

"Mis!" Her two Pokémon cried in agreement.

"Fla!" Petal shook her head.

"What's it for you? I can't sleep because of silly nervous," Luna sighed.

Missy and Ivy both nodded, Petal shrugged to say don't know. Luna asked, "Same for you, huh? Well, since I'm up, do you want to hear the rhyme which I have been hearing in my dreams recently?"

"Nah! Nah!" Ivy said excitedly, and Missy had much the same reaction. Petal just nodded.

"Alright, give me a sec, and I'll start," Luna said. Then she started to sing in the same language she could speak without having learnt it.

"Miss?" Missy asked.

"In the dreams, a woman, I believe it is my mother, sings that. But, there is a part she has never sang, which I think is the second verse, what do you think about hearing it? I saw it written on a stone in the Team Rocket base. I'll just speak it: I'm not much of a singer," Luna said.

"Nah! Nah!" Ivy said jumping up and down.

"Okay, Okay. Here it is:

"_When Tomorrow comes, I will be grown. I will remember you when we met, and when I am with you again, I will be complete. I have a journey, a long one. Come with me, and you shall watch, even if we have to fight, we will still be friends._

_I know with my heart, I am a warrior and fighter; and I want to protect you all. Sometimes I miss you, and I want to find you again. I may be lost, but someday I will be back."_

"And there we are; the second part of it," Luna said quietly.

"Nah," Ivy replied sleepily.

"Huh? Oh, it's made me feel sleepy too!" Luna yawned.

"Misdeavus!" Missy responded, not sounding sleepy.

"Come on guys, let's head back to bed," Luna said softly.

"Miss!"

"Nah!"

Then they went back to bed. Unbeknownst to any of them, something or someone heard Luna and was now very curious about her.

* * *

**Thanks for reading, see you later, Edit: poll is now displayed.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Verdant Cavern Trials (part 2)**

**Ash's Pokémon:  
Rowlet**

**Pikachu**

**Drifloon**

**Hau's Pokémon :  
Litten**

**Ghastly**

**Krystal's Pokémon:  
Leaf (Rowlet)**

**Petal ****Flabébé****)**

**Rowan (Growlithe)**

**Luna's Pokémon:  
Ivy (Ponyta)**

**Missy (Misdreavus)**

**complaining corner: Augh, I feel really weird at the moment. While I haven't gone to the doctor for a proper diagnosis, I believe I have Anemia, considering lightheadedness or dizziness, chest pain and fatigue are all symptoms, and a year or two ago I did have a blood test which said my iron levels were lowish, but the pills I was given were not really going to solve it.**

**While I have always had a low heart rate along with low blood pressure, I have never gotten any breathing or chest pain with it until now. While it's been getting down to forty I have noticed when my average is the high forties, but that's only when I'm waking up or resting basically still, when I do things or try to breath more it goes up. I am only measuring it with my fitbit, too. W  
When I woke up this morning was low for me, and I had a feeling like the one you get in your chest after holding your breath for a while. When I do excurse that get's it up to the teens in a hundred and up to and above 120, I don't notice this pain/discomfort, or it goes away, which I would guess is a good thing, considering I am not even twenty yet, and my parents have low blood pressure for one and low heart rate for the other.**

**My sister also got anemia, so she had a vitamin B12 injection left over, which she has given to me. Not sure if I notice a difference yet, but my muscles for all weird, like I, have been clenching them for a long time, or like they're on the verge of spasming. **

**Considering all this, Anemia or a virus are the most likely options, both curable without seeing a doctor, which is why I haven't. If it starts getting worse or hasn't started to improve by the end of the month, I will then.**

**Anyway, here is the chapter.**

* * *

The next morning, Luna and Krystal both rose early, or earlier than the other three, anyway. They had not shared what time they were going to get up, nor when they would head out for the trial this morning, if at all in the morning: no one had said what was supposed to be happening, so the girls decided to get up at the normal time, which was twenty to seven.

Luna was a little slow to start, from only just enough sleep to see her through the day, which was five and a half hours, but after a while, she picked up and became her normal self. Krystal was bright and cheery as usual from the moment she woke up, evidently, she had slept fine!

After packing their stuff into their backpacks, and then grabbing the pokémon, they left the key in the room and went down to breakfast. Not sure what they were going to do when they booked the two rooms the other day, and they had no idea how long they'd stay, Nurse Joy had suggested they booked the rooms until today, and then if they decided to hang around to book them again: she was unlikely to get them booked in that time.

Considering the time they had gotten up at, Luna and Krystal weren't entirely surprised to see that the boys weren't down yet, being more a time to wake when you were on the road, whereas seven twenty, seven-thirty was a more respectable time if you were travelling to a location no more than five minutes away, then coming back.

But they didn't appear, even when Luna and Krystal had ordered food for themselves and their pokémon, and then the food had even arrived and no boys. There was not a hide or hair of them, and the girls found it very odd, considering they always appeared when food was in the equation.

"I would have thought they'd be up by now: Hau always has plenty of energy, and I'd be surprised if he could sleep considering what today is," Luna said, sounding genuinely surprised. "He and Ash seem to be able to smell food from a mile off, too."

"Same. If they haven't come by the time we finish our meals, how about we go and wake them up?" Krystal suggested.

"Sounds good: that is the only option apart from heading off without them," Luna agreed, not wanting to do that.

"Nah!"

"Miss?"

"Flea?"

"Growl!"

"Row!" Their Pokémon said, agreeing with that statement and agreement.

"Glad you guys agree," Krystal said, smiling at them.

When they had finished eating, Luna and Krystal looked around one more time for the boys, but still no sign of them. So, they assumed the boys were still asleep, and they went up to their room with pokémon in toe.

"I just had a thought, Krystal. Do you want me to put Missy away? I know you're afraid of ghost pokémon, after all," Luna asked, half stopping.

"Miss, miss!" Missy said, not looking pleased or happy about that suggestion.

"It's alright, she can stay out. It's not fair on Missy to be kept in the pokéball all the time, or even most the time. Just, make sure she stays with you and doesn't prank me or something," Krystal said softly.

Luna nodded, continuing on, glancing over at Missy who seemed to enjoy floating alongside them. Missy gave a cheerful cry, and Luna hoped part of it was a thank you to Krystal. It seemed to be the case, as Missy acted very warmly to Krystal for the next few minutes, at least, but Luna stopped observing after that.

When they reached the boys' room, Luna decided to knock first, before doing anything else. No reply. Luna knocked again, still no reply, much to her frustration. Then Krystal tried her luck with awakening the others. She knocked and called out, "Hey, boys! It's time to wake up, lazybones!"

"Pikachu?" Pikachu replied: someone was up! That was something, and it would be useful for getting the humans up.

"Morning, Pikachu! Do you think you can wake the boys up? I take it they're still asleep," Krystal asked through the door, as they heard what was quite possibly Pikachu coming over.

"Pika, pika piki!" Pikachu agreed. He was quite hungry, so he was eager to go and eat.

A few seconds later, they heard Pikachu make the same sounds he made when he used thunderbolt, then they heard the professor, Hau and Ash cry out. Luna and Krystal meanwhile, high fived.

"H-e-y! Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed when Pikachu stopped using thunderbolt. There was a thump at about the same time, so Krystal wondered if someone, possibly Ash, fell out of bed.

"Well, it is time to get up! Don't blame Pikachu for you being lazy!" Luna called annoyedly.

"Oh! Hi, Luna! What do you mean?" Hau asked with a yawn, or they assumed he yawned, anyway.

"Well, Krystal, our pokémon and I have had breakfast, and we want to be heading out to Verdant Cavern sometime today. I'm sure you want breakfast before we go, too," Luna said, a bit of anger in her voice.

"Okay, we will be right out!" Professor Kukui answered. "Thanks for waking us, girls!"

"Alright! We will wait for you downstairs," Krystal said. Then she, Luna and their Pokémon started downstairs, thinking about how lazy their male travelling companions were.

"Do you think they will actually get up?" Krystal asked when they were out of earshot.

"If not, I'll send Missy on them. She might not be very good at causing fear yet, but I bet she could get them moving," Luna said, giggling slightly.

"Miss, miss!" Missy sniggered, liking that idea.

"I don't like the sound of that tone," Krystal said, shivering and holding herself.

"Don't worry, she wasn't plotting against you," Luna said. Then she added very quietly, "I don't think so, anyway."

"Good," Krystal said back.

Five minutes after they returned to the cafeteria area, Professor Kukui, Ash and Hau appeared with their Pokémon and backpacks, though they looked like they had just rolled out of bed. Ash didn't look too bad, though his clothes needed ironing, Hau's hair was a mess and his, but Professor Kukui looked okay. Though his hair was the obedient sort, and his outfit was not complicated, but one of his coats' patches needed fixing, and his cap looking like it had been slept on.

They quickly went and ordered something, then they came over and joined Luna, Krystal and their pokémon (just next to the table) at their booth. Rotom popped out then and floated over to the window. He said, "Nice idea with the wake-up call, zrrt!"

"Thanks, Rotom! Glad you approve!" Krystal said brightly. "You could have woken them up, though."

"Pika, pika!" Pikachu said, feeling quite smug.

"Mind you, it was nice to be woken up by Pikachu: I haven't had him do it for ages! I had forgotten the energising feeling it gives you," Ash said, stretching out.

"Are you sure it's energising, and not just not all the electricity hasn't left your body yet?" Luna asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Pretty sure," Ash answered.

"Being exposed to pokémons' moves once in a while is actually very good for you," Professor Kukui said sagely.

"Is that an actual fact?" Hau asked, curious.

"Yep! It is," Professor Kukui verified. "I know from personal experience!"

I suppose that makes sense because aren't black belt trainers really healthy and strong? Isn't part of their training is having their Pokémon attack them?" Luna asked, trying to remember what the book she had read training and the different sort of trainers.

"Yep, that's right, Luna. You have a good memory," Professor Kukui remarked. "They also live for a long time, too."

"I do enjoy reading learning books, and I want to earn the Ace trainer rank. Even books most people find boring I find interesting," Luna said, shrugging.

"That's weird," Hau said, sounding like he didn't believe it. Everyone else laughed at him, while Krystal and Ash, (though, Ash only partly,) could understand where Luna was coming from.

######$$$$$$####################!########################

When they had all finished eating, they left the Pokémon Centre. Professor Kukui said, pointing to a cave with two wooden structures on either side of the entrance, "That's it: Verdant Cavern, the home of Captain Llima's Trial, and your first steps' to completing the Island Challenge."

"What are those strange wooden things?" Hau asked with a cheesy grin.

"Hau! Would you stop that!" Luna exclaimed, irritably glaring at him.

"They're Trial Gates. Once you, Luna and Krystal go past them, you have to complete your trial before you can leave, or get defeated. Keep this in mind: you may use any amount up to the normal limit of six pokémon in this trial. That's part of the reason why there are captains for the trials: so they can make sure people are not cheating, especially in later trials when the amount you can use is less. Two years ago, we discovered people were indeed cheating, so we chose some captains to make sure everyone behaved during the event: we only finalised everything a few months ago, so the captains are all very new to their jobs, still," Professor Kukui responded.

"So, we shouldn't go in until we're ready?" Luna asked.

"Yes. Are you ready?" Professor Kukui asked though it was more of a polite gesture rather than a question.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Luna sighed.

"Yes, same," Krystal nodded.

"Yeah, well... I was born ready!" Hau said excitedly.

"Come on then, let's go!" Ash said, thinking they should get this over with. Then, with him leading the way, they went into Verdant Cavern.

As they passed the wooden structures outside the entrance, Luna said softly, "Well, we either pass or fail, 'cause there is no turning back now."

"Don't worry, you will be fine," Professor Kukui said reassuringly. Ash reflected on the Professor and wondered if he and his wife, Professor Burnett, were planning on having a family. While he did not know the other Professor that well, they both seemed, to him at least, have great parent potential within them.

As they entered the cave, they saw Llima waiting for them, reading a book on something, no one could quite see: surely he must have a crick in the neck? Krystal and Ash both knew they would in five minutes if they read a book like that.

That aside, Verdant Cavern was quite a spacey place: there was a large crevasse in the middle of it, with two boards going over the gap in two different places. Now, that looked safe, and Luna did not look forward to crossing it: none of them did, but she had a problem with heights on unstable structures.

Around were lots of rocks, (unsurprisingly,) and a few pokémon, who would live here, also unsurprisingly. Some of the rocks had a bit of moss on them: Ash wondered if it was the right sort to get Eevee to evolve into Leafeon. It could be, but as moss was moss to Ash, he was certainly no expert. He glanced around: the only way to tell would be if there were any leaf stones: Eevee evolving moss seemed to grow near or be the creator of leaf stones.

There were a few patches with light coming down from the roof, and they could all see an exit at the back of the cave: Luna, Krystal and Hau wondered where that went, though, Ash knew it was part of the trial, and the light came from parts of the roof that had been dug out by flying pokémon, wanting access to the cave.

"Welcome," Llima started walking towards them as he chatted. "Welcome to Verdant Cavern, the home of my trial and lots of Yungoos and Rattata. We can't forget the pokémon, can we?"

"Thank you, Llima," Luna said politely.

"Now, as you probably know, until you have completed all stages of the trial you are unable to leave this place. Well, Ash and Professor Kukui can leave if they so wish, or need to go and get urgent supplies," Llima said, being completely and utterly clear.

"Wait, how did you know I had already done this trial?" Ash asked, trying to work it out; he scratched his head at the same time.

"The Kahuna Hala told me," Llima said simply. "He informed/informs all the trial captains of trainers who have completed the trials, so they can come in and catch the pokémon without us stopping them."

"So, what do we have to do in this trial?" Krystal asked anxiously.

"Well, see that hole the wall just down there? There are several of those throughout this cave. You need to look in them because pokémon live inside them: they're the dens of pokémon, for a lack of a better word. What you need to do, is this: you three will need to find three yungoos, and then defeat them. Whoever goes second, you will have to find three rattata. Since there are three of you, you will have to go one at a time for this trial. Also, Ash and Professor Kukui may go with you, but they are not allowed to give or take any advice," Llima said, interacting the pokémon den thing he had been talking about.

Then a loud growl came from the exit at the back of the cave, which echoed throughout, causing them all to jump. Llima said, smiling and looking embarrassed, "Oh yes, I forgot to mention the Totem Pokémon, Gumshoos, lives here, and after you have defeated the three Pokémon, you will need to defeat Gumshoos or my totem Raticate. So, who's going first?"

"Hau, would you like to start us off?" Luna offered kindly. She didn't want to go first, and she thought Hau should put his money where is mouth is, so to speak.

"Yeah! I don't mind waiting," Krystal said hastily. Luna suspected Krystal was beginning to feel some nerves: it had taken time but she made it to that stage, but she got there, or so it seemed.

"Errr, okay," Hau said, sounding unsure, wondering how he got into this.

"it's alright Hau, I'm sure you'll be fine. So, without further delay, Hau: your trial starts now," Llima said, then, Hau, Ash and Professor Kukui were off with Llima in their wake, though, Hau looked reluctant to go.

When they reached the den Llima had pointed out earlier, a yungoos jumped out to attack Hau, snarling and growling menacingly. Hau quickly sent Litten out (not that Litten would have let him use another) and commanded an ember which got rid of the Yungoos.

Luna and Krystal could watch most of Hau's trial: the yungoos who attacked him were pretty weak and were down in one or two attacks, albeit, the final one took a full-on battle. Litten started off with ember, which it dodged, then he used scratch and lick, but sadly the yungoos dodged those attacks, too.

Hau then changed tactics and got it to use growl and leer to lower the other pokémon's stats and put it off, allowing him to temporarily immobilise it with ember then finish with a combo of scratch and fire fang. After that, they entered the room way out the back, meaning Luna and Krystal could no longer see them.

About fifteen minutes later, though perhaps closer to twenty, Hau, Llima and Professor Kukui came back. Hau was grinning, and he had a Z bracelet on his wrist complete with a crystal. Krystal and Luna knew it was one because Ash had one and they all looked exactly the same. "You passed?" Krystal asked, knowing the answer already.

"Yep! Gastly gave it his all, and Litten evolved!" Hau said excitedly.

"Really? Well done!" Luna said, smiling shyly.

"That's excellent news, Hau," Krystal said, smiling warmly.

"Yes. Hau did really well!" Professor Kukui said, giving him a gentle slap on the back.

"I just have to go and prepare some things while you decide who goes next," Llima called, running off into the distance.

"So, Ash, who was captain when you did this trial?" Krystal asked chattily.

"There wasn't one, so the Kahuna was overseeing the trials, well, some of them, anyway: can't really remember mine," Ash stated, explaining what happened.

"Oh, okay," Luna nodded, recalling Professor Kukui had said something similar just before.

"So, which one of you will go next?" Professor Kukui asked, turning to Luna and Krystal.

"if you don't mind, Luna, can I go now? Just if I don't think I'll be able to do it if I wait too much longer," Krystal asked, almost begging if Luna was honest.

"Sure, you can go next," Luna said, somewhat begrudgingly. She was happy to let Krystal go next, but Luna did want to get it over and done with.

"Alright! I think I'll start with Rowan," Krystal said grabbing Rowan's pokéball and enlarged it.

"I wonder how long Llima's going to be until you can start?" Ash wondered out loud.

"I hope he'll let me come along and watch! I want to see you two do in your trial!" Hau said jumping up and down. He might be annoying, but Hau was a good friend from the fact he liked to help them in battles, and he seemed to want to watch Krystal's, at least.

"Yeah, hopefully," said Krystal, being agreeable.

"Llima shouldn't be too long," Professor Kukui said thoughtfully.

Ten minutes later, Llima came back, running all the way. He said, "Alright, who's going next?"

"I am," Krystal responded.

"Alright, Krystal. You may start now: trial starts now!" Llima nodded.

"Can I come too? Just to watch, of course," Hau asked.

"Sure. Actually, I could use your help for something, anyway, Hau: so that would be good," Llima nodded, looking happy about this.

"See you, Luna!" Krystal chirped.

"Yes, bye! Good-luck, Krystal!" Luna called as they headed off.

When Krystal passed the first den, she was not attacked, so she looked in the den, stuck both her arms in and pulled out a rattata. Rowan was then sent out to deal with it. As they disappeared temporarily, Luna sighed and shivered: by yourself, this place was really creepy!

Krystal found another rattata a few minutes later. Luna was only alerted to look over there when she heard Krystal screamed. She was a bit obscured, but it looked like a rattata had bit her on the leg. She quickly sent Petal out and a combined attack from her and Rowan made the rattata faint in one hit.

They continued on, but Luna could not watch as she got obscured by the wall of the cave. She could hear Krystal order attacks, though. After a while, Luna pulled her pokédex out and started looking at that.

When almost half an hour passed and they weren't back yet, Luna was worried. Was everything alright? Was Krystal having trouble? But then she saw Llima run towards her, which eased her fears slightly, just because no one was with him, she assumed they were waiting for her at the other end. He asked, "Are you ready? Krystal passed her trial."

"Okay, I'm ready," Luna nodded.

"The others are waiting at the other end: I asked them to because some Team Skull grunts have been getting in here and causing trouble, and the last thing I need is them stealing the Totem Pokémon or disrupting a trainer's trial," Llima said, sighing.

"Okay, that's reasonable enough," Luna nodded yet again. However, Krystal and Hau came up then, jumping down the small ledges directly across from where Luna had been standing. Krystal was lagging a bit behind, and had a bandage on her leg: the rattata must have bitten her after all

"We thought the Professor and Ash could keep Team Skull at bay if they did come," Krystal said, explaining why they were here.

"So we thought we'd come and watch Luna," Hau added quickly.

"Alright, that's okay. Luna, you ready? Your count down starts now. Three, two, one: go," Llima said, a little wrong-footed but then coming back into the swing of things. On the word of go, Luna started down the track the others had taken. As for Hau and Krystal: they were walking behind Llima, who was walking just behind her. She found this eerie: it felt like holes were being burned into her back, and all three of them were silent, which made it even worse and even more creepy than being here on your own.

As Luna passed the first den, she heard a rustling sound inside. When Luna got down to look inside, she spotted a yungoos which ran off at the sight of her. Then Luna saw it -what she was pretty sure was the same yungoos- come out of a den further down: all these den cave things would be connected, or so she guessed. Luna ran down there, in order to try and grab it.

However, when she got down there, the Yungoos fled yet again and appeared at the den further up. Luna quickly realised she needed to trick it, so she sent Missy out.

"Missy! Come on!" Luna said and she started walking up the hill to the yungoos.

Meanwhile, Krystal muttered, glad it wasn't her, "This one is being annoying! If I was Luna, I would be about ready to lose it by now!"

This worked, for it turned and ran back into the den straight away. Luna told Missy to wait at that den to chase it back up here. It worked: the Yungoos came out of the one Luna was standing near, meaning she could force it into battle. She quickly sent Ivy out and asked for an Ember.

Being surprised about the fact Luna was down here, the Yungoos didn't get out of the way and got hit head-on, making the attack a critical hit. However, it quickly recovered and countered with a bite. Ivy dodged this, then she was asked to use Ember again. This hit and made the Yungoos faint. "Yay! One down two to go," Luna cried happily.

"Well done, Missy and Ivy: return," Luna said, returning her two pokémon and place the balls back on her belt.

She continued on with the others following. Because it was in a dark shadow, Luna didn't see the next den, which meant when a Yungoos jumped out at her, she jumped a foot in the air from fright. "Yaahh!" Luna cried, she then lost balance and ended up falling on the ground.

Quickly getting up, Luna sent Missy out. "Missy! Use Psywave!" she ordered briskly.

"Mis!" Missy replied and sent Psywave out. This missed, but after being asked again, Missy used Psywave again, and this time, she made it cover a wider area.

After that, Missy was hit with a bite, which really hit a sore spot; and Missy struggled to recover from that. She did eventually and ended the battle with another Psywave.

"One to go, Missy!" Luna said as Missy returned to her.

"Misdreavus!" Missy cried happily, then they walked on.

Luna had forgotten about Llima or anyone else for that matter, with them being so silent, and she toned into the plentiful natural sounds. Well, that was until Llima decided cough, just as Luna crossed one of the bridge replacements, over the great gap in the middle of the cave. Luckily, Luna didn't really jump anywhere, otherwise, it would have probably meant she fell off the edge.

She did, however, lose balance and look down. "Yah!" Luna cried, hoping, trying to get her balance back desperately, and she was beginning to panic.

"Luna!" Krystal cried, reaching for Leaf's pokéball.

Luna managed to stop herself falling off for long enough: she managed to get close to the other side, and then leap the remaining distance. Here, she collapsed, and sighed, "That was close."

"Yes, it was," Llima nodded, happy she didn't fall off. Now, that would be awkward.

"Please don't do it again, Luna," Krystal said, looking worried.

"Yeah! I just about had a heart attack!" Hau grumbled.

"Sorry. But trust me, I'm not in a hurry to repeat that," Luna said breathlessly. She stood up and continued on then, having recovered enough.

The next pokémon she found was a Gumshoos, assuming she was supposed to defeat it, she went after it. However, this Gumshoos played the same game the first one did. Having done it before, though, Missy and Luna both managed to trick it quicker. Gumshoos being stronger then Yungoos caused more of a problem for Missy, but she just managed to concur it.

"_I don't think I'll use Missy against the totem," _Luna thought as she put Missy away. Gumshoos had beaten her up quite badly, and Missy was also very tired from the previous yungoos.

"Alright, Luna, time to head out the back for the final stage!" Llima said brightly. Luna nodded, feeling more confident about the last battle.

"Okay," Luna nodded. With that, she headed towards the second exit with the other three following: she did try and make sure she kept them in her mind, to not forget about them.

Upon reaching the exit, she saw Ash and Professor Kukui hanging around, talking. It was then Luna glanced at Krystal and noticed she had a bracelet like Hau and Ash had: Luna guessed if she passed, she'd get one.

When Ash saw Luna, Krystal, Hau and Llima, he said, "Yay! Your nearly there, Luna!"

"How's it been?" Llima asked.

"Pretty good. Two Skull Grunts did try to cause trouble, but Ash and I sent them packing with a Z Move combo!" Professor Kukui said excitedly.

"Now that would have been something. So now you both are pretty tired?" Llima asked.

"Yeah, a little," Ash admitted with a small nod.

"Pika!" Pikachu said, looking quite tired, and a little unbalanced.

"But, anyway! Trial first, talking later!" Krystal said, clapping her hands They walked out into the area just through that exit. It was surrounded by cliffs and mountains. There was a little grass right in the middle, but other than that, a few plants were growing among the rocks and cliffs but that was it.

"This is it, the last part of the last trial I am overseeing today. Luna, see that sparkling crystal over there? Go and collect it," Llima said pointing at a small tower with something sparkling in it.

"Sure," Luna answered, thinking that sounded like child's play.

But something told her there was something else attached to this, but Luna didn't know what or how. She suspected it might have something to do with the anxiety coming from Krystal, or the anticipation coming from everything else, or the fact Luna was supposed to defeat the Totem and she hadn't seen it yet. Yes, she saw a Gumshoos, but something told her that wasn't the totem, as it was very small and she had heard the totem pokémon were gigantic.

As she approached the tower, Luna felt a pair of eyes fall on her: she gripped Ivy's pokéball, ready to throw it as soon as she needed to. After Luna had felt them for a while, she looked up to find the owner of those eyes. Just on the ledge above her, there was a huge Pokémon looking down at her.

Luna realised after a while that this Pokémon was the Totem Pokémon, Gumshoos. Gumshoos jumped down from the ledge landing between Luna and the tower, then let out a mighty roar. Luna quickly sent Ivy out to battle.

An orange flare appeared around Gumshoos. Not knowing what it was, Luna pulled out her Pokedex and it said it was Gumshoos' aura. It had come alive and had risen its defence. Luna noticed this Gumshoos was very tall: would be taller than the Professor! She wasn't sure if she had ever seen anyone that tall, apart from pokémon.

Gumshoos wasted no time starting off with a bite. Ivy quickly managed to dodge this without a command from Luna. Luna asked for an ember, which only partly hit Gumshoos, unfortunately. Gumshoos then called out; Luna guessed it was calling another pokémon for help, she had heard of pokémon doing that, after all. A few seconds later, a Yungoos came to its aid.

Luna commanded Ivy to use Flame Charge on the Yungoos until she hit. It didn't take too long for Ivy to hit, but that might be because Flame Charge increases speed every time she used it. She used the speed of her hit of yungoos to hit Gumshoos, which was an effective strategy.

The Yungoos fainted pretty quickly. Then Ivy used Flame Charge on Gumshoos again. It hit, but due to the risen defence, it didn't do much. The Gumshoos called another Yungoos, which Ivy had to beat again. When it called forward another one, Luna realised that to defeat Gumshoos, she was going to have to defeat it, then it's yungoos because it would just keep calling them.

This called for a strategy switch. Luna asked Ivy to use a full-powered Bounce on Gumshoos. This did a lot of damage, however, Gumshoos attacked Ivy with a Thrash which couldn't be avoided as the fire horse was coming down from a bounce attack when it started trashing. Thrash, being a powerful attack, Ivy was hurt badly, and Luna struggled to concentrate because she could feel Ivy was in pain.

Seven tough long minutes later, Ivy was exhausted and she could barely move. Her moves and steps were weary, her sides were puffing like mad, and she was covered in scrapes and bruises. Whereas Gumshoos, to compare her with, looked pretty good. It looked like quite a bit of it's HP had been taken off and it was huffing slightly, but other than that, the totem pokémon looked fine.

As Gumshoos used a takedown attack at the same time as Ivy was using ember, Luna noticed Gumshoos withdraw back when it's hand got burnt. That gave Luna an idea! "Ivy! Surround yourself in fire! Then use Bounce!" Luna called immediately.

"Meh," Ivy responded, then she got to work at once.

It took Ivy a few tries to get the flame to surround herself, but that was probably due to not doing it before. Once she got it, the flames stayed. Then Ivy Jumped high into the air. As she came down, Gumshoos tried to get out of the way, but unfortunately, it wasn't able to.

After Ivy had hit, Luna noticed that then there were small flames in its coat, which meant Gumshoos had gotten burnt! Ivy was then asked to use back to back Flame Charge. Because Gumshoos was slowed down due to the burn, and Flame Charge rose Ivy's speed, they all hit. Ivy kept doing it until Gunshoos eventually fainted, then she used all the strength she had left into Flame Charging the Yungoos, (the Flame Charge made it faint instantly).

"Yay!" Luna, Krystal, Ash and Hau cried, then Luna ran forward to Ivy.

As Luna approached, Ivy rejoiced a little too. But not much, due to she would probably fall over if she did it too much: she was barely managing to stay up and not faint. As Luna stroked her, she could feel Ivy sigh tiredly. "Hard work, wasn't it, girl? But you proved that you could do it," Luna said gently.

"Well done, Luna and Ivy! Awesome work!" Ash said coming over with the rest following.

"Yes, that was great! And that Fire Bounce was pretty sweet too!" Professor Kukui said. Everyone laughed slightly on how typical of Professor Kukui it was.

"Yay! We all passed our trials!" Hau said in typical Hau fashion.

"Zrrt! Well done, z'everyone! That meanz off to your Grand Trial now, zzrt?" Rotom asked appearing from Ash's bag.

"Something like that," Professor Kukui replied.

"Well done, Luna. That crystal on the tower there, it's yours," Llima said. Luna nodded, and she went and picked it up.

"That crystal is called Normalium Z. That is proof that you passed your first trial. So, take this Bracelet," Llima said hand her a bracelet identical to the ones Hau, Ash and Krystal had. Professor Kukui also had one, Luna now saw.

"Thanks," Luna said taking it. She noticed that there was a hole in it the exact shape of the Z crystal. "Is that where I put the Z crystal?"

"Yep. Now, the Z crystal will power up normal-type moves, like a tackle attack. How about I show you how to use it?" Llima said, suggesting the last bit.

Everyone nodded, so he sent out a Smeargle. He said, "Right, first, you tap the crystal while asking your Pokémon to ready the attack. Go, Smeargle! Prepare to charge tackle!"

"Sme, Smeargle!" Smeargle replied getting ready.

"Then you move your arms like this, and then do a stylish pose like this, and say: Now! Breakneck Blitz!" Llima said, moving his arms in a pattern the striking a pose.

Everyone could see something happen which made Smeagle's aura come alive as it used a powered-up version of Tackle called Breakneck Blitz. Smeargle aimed the attack at a boulder and said boulder was turned to dust.

"There, that is how you do it," Llima said, now a bit breathless and shaky. Smeargle, used to it, managed to hold his ground and not stumble nor look tired, impressively.

"Nah!" Ivy said as if she was applauding.

"Thank you. I think I've got it," Luna said, sounding unsure. It looked quite complicated.

"So, shall we go and have lunch, heal our Pokémon and then have that battle, Llima?" Ash asked.

"I think that is a good idea," Llima said, nodding.

"Shall we march, then?" Krystal asked.

"Nah!" Ivy said, then she nudged at her Pokéball in Luna's hand.

"Ivy thinks so: huh? Oh, right!" Luna said at the same time, then she returned Ivy to her pokéball.

"Cool! I was thinking a Malasada would be good right now," Hau said.

"You and your Malasadas," Luna said, shaking her head as she put Ivy's pokéball away.

"Come on, then: lunch isn't going to eat itself!" Professor Kukui said, causing them all to laugh. Then they left Verdant Cavern, as one big happy group. Before they left, Llima left some sitrus berries and revival herbs out for the pokémon Luna and Krystal had battled.

Meanwhile, a shadow at the top of the canyon-like thing the Totem Pokémon was battled in, had been watching, fixated on all the battles, but particularly the last one.

As they left, the shadow said, giggling and lifting a white tentacle, "Looks like that girl with the chosen one is the one I have been looking for. Ooh! Perfect! The boss must be informed as soon as possible so the plans can be made. But for now, I shall continue to watch her, and work out how to get her away from the chosen one."

Then the shadow followed them.

* * *

**Sorry about my complaining, earlier, just by the way. Also, I have a pairing poll, please vote. BTW, I'll warn you now, this story may get a little creepy, considering a few things, which I won't say because it is SPOILERS! That's not until later, so it's safe for the time being.**

**Bye!**


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